March 2013 Ban List Speculation

Hey, guys! As usual, I will do ban list speculation as well. This time I feel that not much cards will be hit by the ban list but certain decks such as Wind-Up, Mermail Atlantean, HERO, Prophecy Spellbook and etc may be hit by this ban list. Below is my prediction list:

Ban List:
Monster Reborn

Limited/Restricted List:
Dark Magician of Chaos
Goyou Guardian
Deep Sea Diva
Wind-Up Magician
Divine Judgment of the Spellbook
Wind-Up Factory

Semi-limited/Semi-restricted List:
Formula Synchron
Mezuki
Fire Formation - Tenki
Dragged Down into the Grave
Miracle Fusion

Unlimited List:
Reborn Tengu

For the banhammer, I think only 1 card is deserve to be ban and that is Monster Reborn. This card is too strong and it can be say as the most important card to turn the table. Thus Konami may drop this card to the ban list again.

With the ban of Monster Reborn, I don't think Konami will reopen Premature Burial because the loop of Dewloren to recycle it is still valid. I do think that the another member of Chaos which is Dark Magician of Chaos will be released from the ban list and become limited again. Apart from that, I would like to see Goyou Guardian back to the stage of synchro again. Blackwing player certainly want Goyou Guardian in their extra deck again.

In order to hit Mermail Atlantean, I think Konami will not hit the Atlantean engine but they may limit the copies of Deep Sea Diva in the deck so that the speed of the deck will slowing down. Deep Sea Diva is act as one of the key for Xyz or synchro easily. If you are aware of it, most of the time Diva will SS Heavy Infantry so that they have extra normal summon and then fill-up the graveyard so that Moulinglacia can be SS from hand. It is a card that enable Mermail Atlantean to have variety of play style and combo.

Wind-Up is still tier 1 especially in TCG environment(OCG Wind-Up players is dropping due to Constellar and Evilswarm can overcome them easily), it is necessary to limit Wind-Up Magician and Wind-Up Factory so that their speed will slow down. With Wind-Up Factory, they can gain a lot of hand and proceed with OTK when necessary. Combo of Shark with Magician is too strong and they only need 2 hand to generate the combo. Their OTK combo is far more easy compare with the other deck such as Inzektor, Mermail Atlantean, Hieratic and etc. As a result, they should be limit.

This time I do include a not yet released card in the speculation list. Divine Judgment of the Spellbook is a spell card that enable Prophecy player too have up to 6 hands every turn and it does not limit on adding itself to hand during the End phase. The most important part of it is as long as EITHER player successfully activate any spell card during this turn then they can add Spellbook from deck up to the number of spell card activated within the turn.

By playing Spellbook of the Master and mimic the effect of Divine Judgment of the Spellbook, Prophecy player can SS up to 3 monsters on the field during the End Phase(NS Fool of Prophecy then release Fool to SS Reaper of Prophecy, Reaper of Prophecy SS random lv5 or above Dark Spellcaster from deck, resolve Divine Judgment effect and SS Justice of Prophecy and banish to add High Priestess of Prophecy and any Spellbook. Then resolve Spellbook of Master effect and in the end you can have 3 monsters on the field). I bet Konami won't limit this card as if they do it then they have create new record for limiting a card before it was officially released.

Besides that, I wish to see Formula Synchron goes to 2 as synchro deck is hardly to be seen nowadays. Without the appearance of ultimate monster, Trishula on the stage, Formula Synchron may not effective enough compare with synchro era. Mezuki may be back to 2 as well as it can helps to gain back the speed of Undead deck. Undead deck is a nice deck that capable to do Xyz and synchro easily. However, they most afraid of DD deck and the biggest problem is Mezuki at 1 while Plaguaspreader Zombie at 1. As a result, we hardly to seen it on the stage.

Fire Fist is started gaining popular in OCG and it has rise till tier 1.5 as its build is simple and consider cheap(without playing expensive promo cards). Fire Fist gained advantage by having Fire Formation on the field and not easily to out of monster due to they have 3 copies of pseudo-ROTA. Fire Formation - Tenki is a pseudo-ROTA for beast-warrior and boost the ATK of beast-warrior. Although we can only activate it ONCE per turn, but it is a re-usable ROTA by combo-ing it with Mist Valley Falcon or Blackwing -Zephyros the Elite. You can found this build in YGO OCG News.

I think most of us have seen the powerful combo of Dragged Down into the Grave with Mind Crush. Although Dark World still in tier 1.5 but I believe Konami will create an environment whereby their army can be rise to tier 1. I can see the days where they are coming and most probably will be after this March. Although HERO players is dropping down due to incoming of Evilswarm, I still can see that it is powerful enough as Miracle Fusion will always do the job. With 3 Miracle Fusion straight in a row and have enough of monster, they can almost guarantee a win and it almost costless compare with Super Polymerisation.

Reborn Tengu is less appearing in major deck due to Xyz are more flexible and Tengu cannot trigger its effect if it was used as Xyz material. Compare with Tour Guide of Underworld, it is a bit difficult to play as you may hold 3 Tengu at a time while TGU allow you to SS another copies of itself even you have 2 copies of it in your hand. Thus I personally feel that Tengu may be back to 3 after this.

Before I ended up my post, I predict that the new tier 1 will be Spellbooks Prophecy, Fire Fist, Evilswarm, Constellar, Harpie Lady and Phantom Beast Plane. For those whose still thinking of what is the reason of reprint Naturia Beast as common, Konami hope us use it to against Spellbook Prophecy, Dark World, Harpie Lady and FTK deck. After effective of March 2013 ban list, I believe the whole environment will change back to backrow-oriented environment.

FYI, the real March 2013 ban list will be revealed within the period of next month 15th to 20th. Thus if there is any leaking ban list before these date then most probably it is a fake list. Okay, that's all I wanna share with you guys. Thanks for your time and wish you guys have a nice day. Please stay tuned for my next post.

4 important aspect that you should not miss out for each game

Hey, guys! At 1st I would like to wish you guys happy new year. I pretty sure lot of us have experienced the difficulty in choosing to play which card during the critical period. Hereby, I share with you guys regarding how do I make my decision to play what card during critical period.

Before you drop your play to the field, you must always consider important aspects no matter when and where. I categories them into 4 important aspects which is field with banish zone, graveyard, hand and deck. The field that I mentioned here included monster zone, field spell zone and spell/trap zone.

1st, frequently check field with banish zone as well. Card on the field is essential to everyone as it will determine the final answer of the game. If you unable to overcome the field card advantage, then most likely you will lose the game. Banish zone is also essential as they can be your final weapon to turn the table. Thus please be aware of the importance of banish zone too.

Currently, we hardly to found powerful banish zone-oriented cards as most of them have been banned or restricted. For example, Dark Magician of Chaos, Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier, Dimension Fusion, Return from Different Dimension, Envoy of the Beginning - Black Luster Soldier and etc. I believe soon Konami will release more card effect that can activate at banish zone.

When we refer to the field card advantage, we not just count it based on the number of card on the field but also count on the capability of the card on the field. Example, you have 4 monsters on the field(none of them can negate nor unaffected by monster effect) but opponent only have a set monster. You definitely think that you will win if all your monster able to attack directly after clear the set monster. However, if the set monster is Morphing Jar 2 then I bet you will be trolled by it.

Let me explain in another situation. You have 3 monster on field(all monster ATK more than 1500) and opponent have a set spell/trap and he left with 3000LP. He have a hand left while you have 2 monsters on the hand. At this moment, you summon a monster and opponent chain it with a Torrential Tribute. This scenario frequently happen and still happening most of the time. The correct decision is you should end the game by declaring attack with 3 of the monsters on the field. If anything bad happen to those monsters then you still have other monster to back you up.

2nd, frequently check out card(s) in the graveyard. Graveyard is an important aspect that we must not forget as they will provide sufficient of information regarding deck type, hand trap, key card, field trap and countermeasure. By checking graveyard, we can foresee what may happen during this turn, upcoming turn(s) or next game. With graveyard information, we can conclude or assume that what card did we had or hadn't play through the game.

I knew most of you guys already realize the important of graveyard as nowadays meta decks are graveyard-oriented. Thus without wasting too much of time, I will skip the part of how to use the graveyard information that you gathered. However, please bear in mind that the more cards is in the graveyard, the more card information will be exposed, thus more countermeasure can be make based on those information.

3rd, always check hand size. Most of the time, hand size helps in determine to play defensively or aggressively. If both players having equal number of hand, you may go for defensive play. If you have larger hand size then you may go for aggressive play. If you have lesser hand size then you must play your cards with the smartest way. However, this strategy may varies based on your deck type and personal play style.

Example, your opponent have 3 set spell/trap and no monster while you have a Gemini Spark and Elemental Hero - Another Neos on hand. Some of the players would just normal summon Another Neos and directly activate Gemini Spark once Another Neos successfully landed on field. The correct move should be normal summon Another Neos and enter Battle Phase. If there is card chain to your Another Neos's attack then only chain with Gemini Spark and target other opponent's set card. With such move, you can +1 while your opponent -2.

2nd example, you have 3 hands(Debris Dragon, One for One and Foolish Burial) while your opponent have 3 hands(assume that no hand trap). His field have 1 set monster on the field while you have 1 Reborn Tengu on field (another Tengu is in the deck). Your graveyard have 1 Blackwing - Zephyros the Elite, 1 Spore and 1 Effect Veiler. Your extra deck have 1 Scrap Dragon, 1 Formula Synchron, 1 Shooting Star Dragon, 1 Shooting Quasar Dragon, 1 T.G. Librarian, 1 AOJ Catastor, 1 Black Rose Dragon, 1 Gaia the Fierce Knight, 1 Mist Wurm and 1 Maestroke the Symphony Djinn.

Shooting Quasar Dragon

Some of the player will go for Foolish Burial and send Dandylion to graveyard. Normal summon Debris Dragon and SS Effect Veiler with Debris effect then go for synchro summon Formula Synchron using Veiler plus token. After that, return Tengu to hand with Zephyros effect and SS 2nd copies of Tengu(if you are lucky as you don't draw 2nd copies Tengu when activate Formula Synchron's effect). Xyz summon Maestroke using Tengu and Debris Dragon. Activate One for One with Tengu as the cost and SS Spore from deck. Then synchro summon Librarian using Zephyros with Spore and SS Spore from graveyard by banishing Dandylion. Synchro summon Catastor using Spore and token and synchro summon for Shooting Quasar Dragon. In the end, you have 2 hands, 1 Shooting Quasar Dragon and 1 Maestroke on the field.

The correct sequences should be SS Zephyros from graveyard and return a Tengu to hand. SS 2nd copies Tengu from the deck and activate One for One with Tengu as the cost. SS Spore from deck and synchro summon Librarian by using Zephyros and Spore. After that, activate Foolish Burial and send Dandylion to graveyard. SS Spore from graveyard by banishing Dandylion and synchro summon Catastor using Spore and token. Then normal summon Debris and SS Spore with Debris effect. Synchro summon Formula Synchron with Spore plus token. At this time, you have 3 hands and still can Xyz summon Maestroke and synchro summon Shooting Quasar Dragon.

OR activate Foolish Burial and send Dandylion to graveyard. Normal summon Debris Dragon and SS Effect Veiler with Debris effect then go for synchro summon Librarian using Veiler with Tengu and 2nd copies Tengu will be SS from deck. After that, activate Zephyros effect and return Tengu to hand. Xyz summon Meastroke using Debris and Zephyros and activate One for One by using Tengu as the cost. SS Spore from the deck and synchro summon Formula Synchron then SS Spore by banishing Dandylion. Synchro summon for Catastor using Spore with token and lastly synchro summon Shooting Quasar Dragon. In the end, you have 3 hands, 1 Maestroke with 1 Shooting Quasar Dragon on the field.

4th, always ask yourself what card left that you have in your deck and what is the possible cards that may included in your opponent's deck. Besides that, you can ask opponent for the number of cards left in a deck and its total. The number of cards in a deck and its total must be reveal whenever a player ask about it. Apart from that, almost every deck will play same copies of staple in their deck thus we can guess what card that they most likely to have now/soon.

Example, your opponent is playing Lightsworn and he left with 2 cards to draw. At this time, you knew he already mill 2 of his Judgment Dragon and all his Monster Reincarnation. You have a set COTH and hand remains 4(1 Effect Veiler, 1 Gorz, 1 Debris Dragon and 1 MST) while opponent have 3 hands, 3 Lightsworn monster, 2 set card(Solemn Warning, Torrential Tribute). Your graveyard have 1 Dandylion, 1 Spore, 1 Lonefire Blossom and other random while opponent already have all the material for summoning Judgment Dragon and he have 2 Necro Gardna in graveyard as well. Your LP left with 4000 while opponent have 6000.

What is the best method you can avoid yourself from being killed next turn while letting opponent lose due to unable to draw card anymore? 1st, MST any of the target. If you have destroy Warning then just proceed to SS Dandylion via COTH and SS Spore from graveyard by banished Lonefire Blossom. Then go for synchro summon of BRD if nothing chain to the SS of both monster and activate the effect of BRD  to destroy the whole field. After that, you may consider to normal summon Debris Dragon and further proceed or just simply end the turn.

Let say your MST hit on Torrential Tribute then you should activate COTH to SS Dandylion and SS Spore from graveyard. Then synchro summon BRD as well and activate BRD effect to destroy all card. If he Warning your BRD then you can choose to normal summon Debris Dragon or just end the turn because you have Gorz on hand. By next turn, if he want to kill you by SS Judgment Dragon then you just defend with your Gorz and during his end phase, his JD need to mill 4 cards to graveyard. If he unable to mill cards anymore, then he will lose the game.

Last but not least, always combine 4 aspects information that I have covered here and make the best analysis based on time. Other than that, frequently review your strategy for each game and make a conclusion for your game so that you can understand what mistakes that you had did and avoid from repeating the same mistake again. Based on those analysis, you may have backup plan whenever you failed to create a big/successful play and know how to side your deck in a better way.

Okay, sorry for posting such a lengthy article. That's all I want to share with you guys. Thanks for your precious time and wish you guys have a nice day. Please stay tuned for my next post.