Official OCG September 2013 Ban List

Hey, guys! Today I will share a quick news of September 2013 ban list. As expected, current meta were hit heavily by the new ban list. Anyway, the top 2 tier 0 deck still alive, is just that their speed have been slow down.

Official ban list is as below(only cards that affected is shown in the list):
Ban/Forbidden(No even a copies to be play in main, side or extra deck)
Reactan, Dragon Ruler of Pebbles
Stream, Dragon Ruler of Droplets
Burner, Dragon Ruler of Sparks
Lightning, Dragon Ruler of Drafts
Spellbook of Judgment

Limit/Restriction cards(Maximum only 1 copies is allow to be put in main, side or extra deck)
Number 11: Big Eye
Trishula
Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Rooster
Genex Ally Birdman
Mermail Abyssteus
Wind-Up Shark
Divine Wind of Mist Valley
Super Rejuvenation
Abyss-sphere
Semi-limit/Semi-restriction cards(Maximum only 2 copies can be put in main, side or extra deck)
Chaos Sorcerer
Gladiator Beast Bestiari
Gorz The Emissary of Darkness
Neos Grand Mole
Black Whirlwind
Fire Formation - Tenki

No longer limit/No longer restrict(Maximum 3 copies can be put in main, side or extra deck)
Wind-Up Magician
Tsukuyomi
Advanced Ritual Art
Emergency Call
Pot of Duality
Scapegoat
Reasoning
Mirror Force

By looking at the ban list, we can concluded that Konami really do their job very well. They stop both top meta by not touching their core engine/combos. As a result, both deck still successfully survive during next format. However, their consistency might fall back to before they have their support cards(Amateur Dragon Ruler and Spellbook of Judgment). I think they will drop to tier 1/1.5 during next format.

Besides hitting tier 0 deck, they also hitting FTK deck so that the FTK loop no longer exist. Fire Fist and Mermail also have some impact in this format. Thus their speed will be slow down drastically. I am happy to see Trishula back to my extra as I like synchro so much. Konami also helps to revive some of old theme deck such as Blackwing, Gladiator Beast, Wind-Up, Ritual-oriented and HERO decks.

By unlimiting scapegoat, we may see frequent occurrence of synchro-oriented or Mecha Phantom Beast deck soon as they can utilize it well. Reasoning is back to 3 as it is a luck-sack card and most important is DMOC is still in the ban list. The semi-limit of Gorz, Chaos Sorcerer, Neos Grand Mole and unlimit of POD and Mirror Force reflects that the next format will be a difficult game and we will end a game much slower than now.

Lastly, Big Eye Trading Card Game has been killed thus we will see less occurrence of Number 11: Big Eye in the game soon. Okay, that's all I want to share with you guys today. Thanks for your dropping by and wish you guys be ready for the new meta. Please stay tuned for my next post.

How To Trick Your Opponent for Misplaying Legally

Hey, guys! Today I would like to discuss about misplay. Many of the players try to avoid from misplay especially during the big event and I knew you guys will think I will discuss the tactics of how to avoid from misplay. However, I would like to share the opposite of it, which is how to make your opponent misplay as much as possible legally.

Yu-Gi-Oh is a game that requires both player to interact with each other no matter physically or mentally. You can trick them by using your body language, orally or both. To effectively making use of your body language, you will need the skill of acting. You can act like very cool especially when you are in a critical period. In such situation, your opponent may play less aggressively therefore you may survive for 1 more turn.

If you want to bait your opponent for using all his/her resource to OTK you, you can act like very nervous and if he/she unable to read through your mind, then he/she probably will fall into your trap and next turn you can turn the table around. However, a pro player will not easily fall into this kind of trap thus be aware of it. Body language is the most effective way to bait your opponent but it also requires some sort of acting skill thus not much people able to make use of it effectively.

Apart from that, you can also smiling or laughing your opponent while he/she were performing any action(although you don't have any set card). Through this way, they may stop for a while and re-think of how should they play because they afraid that the smile or laugh is a sign of having enough of protection to survive till next turn. However, this method may not be work some time because pro players will analyze the whole situation before they do any action.

I have seen this tactic during Malaysian WCQ Year 2007(if I not mistaken). My opponent was playing Horus the Black Flame Dragon and during those time most of the deck focus on heavy back row while not much of powerful effect monster. By playing Spell and Trap lock down deck, most of the time we can win the game easily. During that time I were lock down by this combo and I tried to play defensively, he keep on laughing loudly and said that "I can foresee that you will lose the game! Hahaha!". By doing so he already weaken my confidence and in the end I have lose the game.

Others than using your body language, you can also play around your opponent orally. You can try to shark your opponent for the consequences of extended play. Example, you have only 1 copies of CED at your back row but your opponent have 3 monster that can OTK you if they want. You keep on sharking him/her that "Beware of my set cards as it might be Mirror Force! Don't try to attack with full force else you will be regret!". In this way, you may survive for 1 more turn. I have seen some of the players using this trick numerous of time and it did works most of the time.

You can also shark your opponent for destroying cards that were less useful in the game. Example, you have 2 back row, 1 is CED and another is Starlight Road and your opponent have MST on hand. You keep on looking at the Starlight Road no matter what your opponent is doing. Therefore, your opponent may predict that the Starlight Road is a very important card for you as you are keep on looking at it. Then he/she will activate MST to target Starlight Road and destroy it. Through this method, you have save your CED for your opponent next play.

Besides that, you can persuade your opponent to extend their play if you sure you can survive for this turn and turn the table around next turn. For example, your opponent have 3 monsters on the field and he/she can OTK if they want but they choose to play safe. In this case, you try to persuade he/she to extend their play by saying that "If you not dare to OTK me this turn, I bet you will regret it later on!" As a result, he/she may OTK you immediately and fall into your trap. However, please use this trick wisely as your opponent may have enough of preparation to stop your tactic.

Aside from those I have mentioned, you can also purposely making some "misplay" where the play actually is the best play that you did. To illustrate it clearly, let me put an example so that you can understand what I want to share with you guys. You have MST, Kycoo, Monster Reborn at your hand while you knew your opponent have 2 set card, one is Solemn Warning and another unknown card. You decide not to play the MST as doing so you have to blindly destroy a target. Therefore, you summon Kycoo and waiting for opponent to response to the summon.

If he/she decide not to negate your Kycoo then you can save the MST until end of Battle Phase else you can play your MST right after he/she negate your Kycoo from landing on the field. If Kycoo is safe then you can enter BP in order to check whether the other set card is a battle-trigger trap or not. If your Kycoo were destroyed during BP, then you can use the MST to destroy the Solemn Warning and reborn your Kycoo from the graveyard. Else just set your MST and wait for your opponent's further action.

Some of the players even use rude words to make their opponent rage, however, I discourage you guys for using any rude words to blame your opponent as doing so you may receive a warning penalty from referee. The worst penalty you may get is disqualified from play thus please be aware of this rule. If your opponent blame you with the rude words, you just simply call referee to come around and give him/her a penalty. Anyhow, always remember play hard or shark your opponent legally and never ever try to break the rule.

Okay, that's all I wanna share with you guys. Hope these trick can help you to win some of the game. Thanks for your precious time and wish you all have a nice day and good luck for the WCQ! Please stay tuned for my next post.

Is Almost Time To Go For New Format! September 2013 Ban List Speculation!

Hey, guys! 1st of all, I would like to congratulate Zack Teoh for being Malaysia 2013 WCQ Finalist and he will represent us to compete in the final of WCQ 2013 by next month. Since we have enter the month of July and this means the September 2013 format is coming very soon. Like previous, I will do ban list speculation as well.

Undoubtedly, many of us dislike this format even my country WCQ 2013 finalist(Yes, he did mentioned it on his FB!) as only 2 top tier deck(Dragon Ruler and Prophecy) that viable to be play in this format and they are the most consistent compare with other deck. [Seems like this sentence have been seen from some where. Yes, you are correct! LGQ had mentioned it in his blog before I wrote this article.] Thus I see that Konami will make a big impact towards this format.

Before I go further discuss about the potential cards that may be hit in the ban list, let us review what card may be hit 1st. The list is as below:

Ban
-

Limit/Restriction card
Number 11: Big Eye
Dark Magician of Chaos
Deep Sea Diva
Glow-Up Bulb
Spellbook Magician of Prophecy
Super Rejuvenation
Spellbook of Judgment

Semi-limit/Semi-restriction card
Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack
Dandylion
Inzektor Hornet
Night Assailant
T.G. Striker
Fire Formation - Tenki
Gold Sarcophagus
Monster Gate
Scapegoat
Spellbook of Secrets

Unlimit/No longer restrict card
Debris Dragon
Reborn Tengu
Ojama Trio

Basically, I felt nothing should be ban as current format seems like not a card is too broken. Apart from that, by just limit or semi-limit the cards, the deck will be slow down. If we banned the card then the deck may die directly. One of the good example is Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity, Wind-Up is out of the range of competitive deck choice after the effective of March 2013 ban list as they are far less consistent to against tier 0 or 1. Therefore, no card might be ban during this format.

Many player argue that Number 11: Big Eye should be ban but I would rather choose it to be limit as it is one of the most useful Rank 7 Xyz monster other than Dracossack. By limit it to 1 then the game play of Dragon especially mirror match will move towards skill-play setup as you won't simply call it out unless you have clear the bait or force to do so. Compare with Dark Strike Fighter, it may not see so bad as most of the time you won't be kill instantly due to the present of it.

2nd, I feel that it's time for DMOC to back to the field. The reason is so simple, because it is a level 8 spellcaster monster and this will enables some deck especially Prophecy to gain back some advantage as some of its cards will be hit by the new format. By having DMOC you can play monster reborn/dark hole/heavy storm for twice, imba enough for us but I bet this card may not be too useful as it may just like BLS-Envoy of the Beginning. Apart from that, the new format gonna be a Rank 8/9/10 Xyz monster era. Thus it may be release from the ban list.

For Mermail, Deep Sea Diva is a card that must be hit as it helps to fuel up the field/graveyard instantly. It also enables more swarming play thus I think it will be limit as current format haven't hit it yet. Still I like to see the return of Glow-up Bulb as it will increase the speed of synchro-oriented deck and as long as Trishula or Brionac is stay in the ban list, Yugioh world should be safe. Spellbook Magician is the card that I would like to see in the list as it is the card that enables the flow of the Prophecy.

Super Rejuvenation and Spellbook of Judgment are the cards that must be hit as they will refill back all the resources that you have play within the turn. They help you to further extend the game during next turn while reducing the chances of your opponent to turn the table around. Thus this is the card that creates problem the most, I don't like to see it to be ban but by limit it the refill problem should be solve instantly.

For semi-limit list, Dracossack is the best card that must be hit so that generic Rank 7 become lesser. This will affect the consistency of Dragon Ruler as Dragon use it to waste opponent resources. Once you use out all of it then you will need to think of way to recycle it back. Dandylion and Hornet may be back to 2 again as they didn't do much compare with most of the meta deck. As long as key to combo both of them is limit then the combo play will not be too consistent.

I would like to see Night Assailant back to 2 as it seems like nothing to do as Konami have corrected their errata long time ago. It may just like Twin-Headed Behemoth that back to the unlimit list as well. T.G. Striker may also back to 2 as this will help T.G. Agent or anti-meta to out against the meta. Tenki is also must be hit as it is pseudo-ROTA for beast-warrior deck, most of the deck have only a copies of ROTA and it is unsearchable.

Gold Sarcophagus is too good to be play in Dragon thus I think put it back to 2 is a good option as doing so will not kill the deck. Monster Gate is good for deck like Hieratic as Reasoning is semi-limit thus I think it will back semi-limit as well. Scapegoat is less useful nowadays as Xyz monster have dominate the game thus I do think it will back to 2 copies too. By just limiting Judgment and Spellbook Magician, Prophecy is still strong thus semi-limit Secret certainly will slow down the play and its consistency.

Lastly, I would like to see Debris Dragon, Reborn Tengu and Ojama Trio back to unlimit. Debris Dragon and Reborn Tengu are the answer for more synchro play while Ojama Trio may boost the play of field-lock down deck. Okay, that's all I wanna share with you guys. Kindly drop your comment if you felt that I have leave out some of the cards. Thanks for your time and good luck for your tournament.

A guide to Prophecy, Dragon Ruler or Evilswarm?

Hey, guys! Sorry for not update my blog so frequent. Before I start off with today's topic, let's us give a round applause to Michael Bonacini for discussing the change of Yu-Gi-Oh nowadays. What he had mentioned in his blog indeed is a fact, however, the reason that I believe why Konami would alter the competitive environment is due to they want to access to new blood(player)/niche/market. For more detail of his blog content, kindly visit his blog(Death Aspect) which I have placed into my buddies list.

Today I would like to share some of my views regarding Prophecy, Dragon Ruler/Elemental Dragon and Evilswarm. Most of us only knowing how good they are but not much people fully understand of how the deck work like. As a result, better players will have higher chances to win the game and poor players will have more misplay. Therefore, we must learn well how the deck works around and from there we can plan how to goes against them especially during mirror match.

Firstly, let us review on Prophecy. As mentioned by Michael Ting in his article, Prophecy is a beat deck which quite similar with HERO beat. Actually, Prophecy not just a beat deck, but I would categorize it under the group of control-oriented deck. Basically, what it did is try to waste all your resource within the few turns and kill you once your resource fully deplete. Normally, they will outplay you within 3-5 turns. If they have exceed the period and they still unable to outplay of you then mostly they will having trouble. The deck mechanism is quite similar with Six Samurai but rather than swarming with monster, they swarming the field with many spellbook.

With the release of Extra Pack 2013, new Spellbook support is started added into their deck and I believe soon Star Hall will become an important card that can be fit into most of the prophecy build as it can boost their monsters attack so that they can kill most of the big monster easily. Generally, the key in prophecy is Spellbook of Judgment and Spellbook Magician of Prophecy. Without Spellbook Magician of Prophecy in the deck, Prophecy is unstable and you can lose the game easily due to most of the spellbook require a spellcaster on field so that it can be activate. If you able to resolve Spellbook Magician effect, then you will instantly +1.

High Priestess of Prophecy is a card that enable you to have destructible effect so that you can shut the game down earlier. However, drawing too much Priestess is a bad dream especially when you unable to fulfill its summon condition. It may destroy your deck consistency thus some of the OCG player already drop its number to 2 instead of 3. The spellbook that added by the effect of Judgment enable you to have enough of hand to outplay your opponent or lock down your opponent. Kycoo is important when you are facing with Dragon Ruler or mirror match. Thus most of the Prophecy player will conserve Kycoo as it is the card that can lock your opponent while attacking them.

During mirror match, the player that won the die roll mostly have advantage as almost nothing can interrupt you unless they have Effect Veiler on their hand. Spellbook of Judgment will be the key to win the game during mirror match as you can set it and wait for your opponent to start with their combo then only chain for it. During your opponent End Phase, you will have more hand to play during your turn or lock the SS of Justice of Prophecy by SS Jowgen as non-turn player will resolve their card effect then only follow by turn player card effect. Therefore, beware of this play as it does happen frequently.

Second, Dragon Ruler is dominating OCG and TCG environment and they are good enough against almost any deck. This is due to they can outplay you almost any time and whenever they needed. Apart from that, Dragon Ruler consider as the 1st deck in Yu-Gi-Oh history that not necessary to use up their normal summon while performing their combo. They are consistent most of the time as they can SS or Xyz summon almost any of their turn. However, they will be pretty bad if they have only 1 color Dragon Ruler in their hand and this situation seldom happen to them as they can swap their hand with the Dragon in their deck by using Tempest effect.

Basically, they will try to gather at least 3 color of Dragon Ruler in their graveyard so that they can have enough of resource to play during next turn. As I had discussed in my last article, Dragossack is the key to generate field advantage or suppress your opponent from having big play. 2nd, their Number 11: Big Eye is super effective especially during mirror match. The 1st player that firstly summon Big Eye during mirror match mostly will lose the game due to Big Eye Trading Card Game. As a result, be alert of dropping your Big Eye too early as you may lose the game because of it and dropping it when you have some sort of protection for Big Eye as some players started to main Enemy Controller to against from negated by Effect Veiler.

Vanity's Emptiness started become one of side deck for Dragon Ruler as they can shut down their opponent from abusive play after they have control the field. Many of the deck try to maining Vanity's Emptiness so that they can compete with this deck. However, Dragon Ruler can easily unlock it by activate Tempest effect to search for Dragon in the deck. Similar with Prophecy, Dragon Ruler normally try to deplete their opponent resource within 3-6 turns. If after the time frame they still unable to kill you, they will be facing difficulty of not enough of resources to continue the game. Thus the match between Prophecy and Dragon Ruler or mirror match is very interesting as you can see how they play their resource effectively.

Lastly, Evilswarm will be our last topic to discuss. Evilswarm is a deck where your monster will easily use up and once you unable to Xyz summon then you will lose the game. Most of the time, you will not have enough of monster in your hand and you will out of the tempo if your opponent able to withstand with the suppress of your Ophion. Some time you even have bad draw and require Infestation Infection to swap with other Evilswarm card from your deck. If your opponent chain with MST toward the play of Infection then you will lose a hand and may lead to a lose. Therefore, some of the players started to maining Kagetokage in order to improve the chance of Xyz summon.

1st, they will summon any Evilswarm monster then follow by SS of Kagetokage. If the monster you summon is Castor and you have another Evilswarm monster then you can have up to 2 Xyz monster on the field. In order to have more number of monster in the deck, they even include a copy of King of Feral Imps and Number 66: Master Key Bettle. They use Feral Imps to search out Kagetokage from the deck and use Master Key Bettle to protect their Ophion/Safe Zone/Imperial Iron Wall. If they have Castor, another Evilswarm and 2 copies Kagetokage and a Safe Zone, they will summon all of them and Xyz summon Ophion with Bettle then set the Safe Zone. Activate Bettle effect to target Safe Zone/Ophion, as a result, Ophion will not be easily destroy thus can form a lock down.

Evilswarm is a deck that require a lot of skill and a bit of luck as the deck is inconsistent thus not many people able to play it effectively. Some of the players even joke it as "it is not a deck" but for me, this is a deck which focus on player's skill rather than their combo. Their combo is straight-forward and this have cause some of the player for not thinking deeply on how to play it effectively. Innovative players will always come out of all sort of idea to improve their deck others than abandon it without having a try. So guys always remember that creative idea will generate better deck.

FYI, Droll & Lock Bird is not too effective against most of the deck except Prophecy and it only slow down the Prophecy but not killing them. Thus I don't highly recommend you guys to use it to stop DW or Dragon Ruler. Besides that, SD25 already officially release and overall the deck is inconsistent yet. Now I waiting for the release of special pack of V-Jump Edition 09(VE09). Hopefully this pack can upgrade the level of SD25 to tier 1. The new BLS will also release in this pack and more news will be revealed any time soon within this period.

Okay, that's all I want to share with you guys and sorry for posting such a lengthy article. Thanks for your precious time to drop by and wish you guys have a nice time with your parents. Last but not least, happy father's day to everyone and enjoy your precious moment with them. Please stay tuned for my next post.

1st ever most competitive WCQ!

Hey, guys! Today I would like to share my personal view on meta change. Extra Pack - Sword of Knights has been officially released to OCG. This is the 1st time OCG synchronize with TCG so that during WCQ we can have similar card pool to play. As a result, I expect we will have much interesting side-decking techniques and only competitive decks can survive in this environment. Apart from that, first time ever most of the Asia countries will be introduced with new format of tournament.

The new format started implement during WCQ 2013 and basically we will held the tournament similar with TCG environment. The tournament will be break into 2 days event which is day 1 preliminary of top 32 qualifiers and day 2 is for 32 seeders and top 32 qualifiers on day 1. This time we will have knock-out basis/single elimination on day 1 and Swiss format tournament on day 2. So for those that will compete during 2 days event, stamina and concentration will be the key for you to survive till day 2.

I bet Elemental Dragon will still conquer the OCG environment and they may even conquer TCG environment as well. Due to all the Elemental Dragon rarities are below R except their extra deck thus I expect a high percentage of people will playing it. In the end, we will a format where Elemental Dragon is the dominance in WCQ. I personally think that not much players affordable to play Prophecy as they are very bloody expensive in TCG environment due to most of their cards are in highest rarity.

Besides that, Evilswarm also started landed at TCG environment thus Evilswarm may be one of the choice to against both deck as most of the decks hard to cope with their speed and Evilswarm can temporary lock them down by standing Ophion on field. However, if we regularly check out the deck choice that compete in major tournaments especially in Japan, we will found that Evilswarm is less topping since mid of April 2013. The reason behind this is Evilswarm not so easy to against both decks as both of them can generate OTK easily once they stop your Ophion from face-up on the field.

I think some of the players still haven't figure out what is the main reason Elemental Dragon dominating OCG. FYI, they have the ability of destroy, search, grave SS, mill and swarming where all of the element that a competitive deck must have. One of the major reason why Elemental Dragon is so strong and stable is due to the occurrence of  Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack. With it, you can perform attack or defense easily. Aside from that, it enable you to get rid of back row almost without cost or force your opponent to waste more resources in order to get rid of it.

2nd reason is they can Xyz summon Number 11: Big Eye easily and use it to steal your monster so that you lost your defense wall. 3rd reason is they can swarm the field without performing any normal summon. Averagely, all of the level 7 Elemental Dragon ATK are more than 2k except Redox thus they can beat you down even without Xyz summon. Moreover, Judgment of the Light(JOTL) has been released to the OCG environment 2 weeks ago. Quite some amount of good cards were printed in this booster.

However, those cards would not cause a drastic change to the current meta environment. Just few new archetype of cards been introduced to the game such as Mesmerizing Maneater, Bujin and Umbralis are quite interesting as their combo is pretty nice and easy to play. Quite a number of Mono Mermail topping during last week Japanese major tournaments thus we might see a lot of Mono Mermail after this. Let us see how effective Mono Mermail against tier 0, Elemental Dragon and Prophecy.

Okay, that's all I want to share with you guys. Thanks for your time and wish you guys have a nice day. Please stay tuned for my next post.

How to side against Elemental/Incarnate Dragon

Hey, guys! Lord of Tahyon Galaxy(LTGY) will be introduce to TCG environment by next month and I believe it would affect whole TCG meta if their baby version Elemental Dragon were released in that booster as well. As a result, I decide to share some strategy on how to side against them. Basically, we can categorize E.Dragon into 2 major deck build, 1 is LADD control while the other is OTK build.

When E.Dragon was started introduce to OCG, numerous of player have tried different build for E.Dragon. In the end, they decide to play the build of LADD control and it is quite stable during that period. However, if you tried to observe them again, you will found that OTK build is increasing while LADD control build is decreasing. They found that LADD control is easier to be counter by their opponent especially Prophecy. Besides that, Prophecy player had changed their build to Jowgen lock down compare with High Priestess beat.

Before we go further on how to side against E.Dragon, let us review what are difference between LADD control build with OTK build.

Generally LADD control build will go through step as below to play LADD as soon as possible:
1, activate miniature Elemental Dragon effect and send Eclipse Wyvern to grave to SS big Elemental Dragon from deck.

2. Wyvern effect activate and banish LADD from deck.

3. If you have big Elemental Dragon on hand then SS it by banishing Eclipse Wyvern and miniature Elemental Dragon in graveyard.

4. LADD is added to hand due to Wyvern's effect.

5. Xyz summon Mecha Phantom Beast Dragon-Sack by overlay both big Elemental Dragon and activate its effect to SS 2 Mecha Phantom Beast tokens.

6. At this time, no normal summon was performed yet, thus released 2 tokens and normal summon LADD. By controlling face-up LADD and Dragon-Sack on the field, we use them to push through opponent.

For OTK build, they much more emphasize on Xyz summon of Mecha Phantom Beast Dragon-Sack to control the field. With Dragon-Sack, they can be used to push their opponent from setting up the field. It also have self-protection effect when they have token monster on their field and it can be use to attack or destroy back row. Moreover, they also focus on Xyz summon of Number 11: Big Eye to take control of opponent monster and push through opponent with their own monster.

Below is the list of cards that we may use to against/siding when your opponent is a E.Dragon player.

Monster
Angel O7, Archlord Kristya, Battle Fader, Chaos Hunter, Colossal Fighter, Crimson Blader, Destiny HERO - Plasma, Effect Veiler, Electric Virus, Evilswarm Ophion, Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo, Gorz the Emissary of Darkness, Jowgen the Spiritualist, Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, Lava Golem, Light and Darkness Dragon, Maxx C, Mermail Abyssgaio, Metaion, the Timelord, Number 16: Shock Ruler, Number 22: Zombiestein, Photon Strike Bounzer, Red Dragon Archfiend, Reptilianne Vaskii, Tragoedia, Treeborn Frog, Tribe-Shocking Virus, Vanity's Fiend, Vanity's Ruler

Spell
Dimensional Fissure, Forbidden Chalice, Necrovalley, Special Hurricane, Zombie World

Trap
Black Horn of Heaven, Bottomless Trap Hole, Breakthrough Skill, Compulsory Evacuation Device, Debunk, Deep Dark Trap Hole, Fiendish Chain, Imperial Iron Wall, Macro Cosmo, Mind Crush, Mind Drain, Rivalry of Warlords, Skill Drain, Soul Drain, Stygian Dirge, The Transmigration Prophecy, Vanity's Emptiness, Void Traphole

Similar with other deck, we can prevent/lock/stop their combo through several method. 1st method, lock down/negate/destroy their SS monster so that they cannot perform swarming so soon. Cards that can do so is Archlord Kristya, Chaos Hunter, Evilswarm Ophion, Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo, Jowgen the Spiritualist, Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, LADD, Number 16: Shock Ruler, Vanity's Fiend, Vanity's Ruler, Dimensional Fissure, Necrovalley, Special Hurricane, Black Horn of Heaven, Bottomless Trap Hole, Giant Trap Hole, Imperial Iron Wall, Macro Cosmo, Mind Drain, Rivalry of Warlords, Soul Drain, Vanity's Emptiness, Void Traphole and Zombie World.

Chaos Hunter, Kycoo, Dimensional Fissure, Necrovalley, Mind Drain and Zombie World may not too effective in locking their SS because they may SS the E.Dragon by using their baby version E.Dragon. Apart from using those cards that can help in locking SS, you must have good protection so that the you can continue push through with the card you hold till the game ends. E.Dragon can simply unlock your lock down by using Blaster, Elemental Dragon of Calderas's effect. Therefore, try to have enough of protection whenever you are in a lead.

2nd, we can negate/forbid activation of their monster effect on the field or in the graveyard. Generally, you may side in cards like Angel O7, Crimson Blader, Destiny HERO - Plasma, Effect Veiler, LADD, Mermail Abyssgaio, Metaion, Photon Strike Bounzer, Forbidden Chalice, Breakthrough Skill, Debunk, Fiendish Chain, Mind Drain, Soul Drain and The Transmigration Prophecy. If they are playing LADD control build, you may side cards such as Battle Fader, Gorz, Lava Golem, Number 22: Zombiestein, Red Dragon Archfiend, Tragoedia and Treeborn Frog.

The 3rd method that we can applied is to slow down/lock down/destroy their setup. The cards that fall to this category is Chaos Hunter, Crimson Blader, Electric Virus, Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo, Jowgen the Spiritualist, Lava Golem, Maxx C, Metaion, Number 16: Shock Ruler, Red Dragon Archfiend, Reptilianne Vaskii, Tribe-Shocking Virus, Dimensional Fissure, Necrovalley, Special Hurricane, Zombie World, Black Horn of Heaven, Bottomless Trap Hole, Breakthrough Skill, CED, Debunk, Deep Dark Trap Hole, Fiendish Chain, Imperial Iron Wall, Macro Cosmo, Mind Crush, Mind Drain, Rivalry of Warlords, Soul Drain, Stygian Dirge and The Transmigration Prophecy.

In order to stop them effectively, you should wait till the right timing to activate cards that can counter their combo. Example, they will Xyz summon Dragon-Sack almost every turn thus whenever you see it you can decide to activate cards that can counter it so that they cannot gain too much of advantage. Most of the time, E.Dragon will have zero or little number of trap lineup but the latest E.Dragon build already included some staple traps thus beware for their back row as well.

FYI, please don't even try to side in Cyber Dragon against them because once you do so, you probably will regret for doing soon. Although you can get rid of Dragon-Sack with it and fusion summon Chimeratech Fortress Dragon, most probably you will lose the game because they can easily Xyz summon Number 11: Big Eye and snatch your Fortress Dragon to kill you. If you want to have a taste of it, you can try so.

Okay, that's all I wanna share with you guys today! Thanks for your time and wish you guys have a nice day. Please stay tuned for my next post.

Who will conquer final of ACQ at Thailand?

Elemental Dragons

Hey, guys! I'm back to blogging again. Malaysia ACQ just ended not long ago and is time for us to speculate what deck will dominate the final of ACQ. So far the finalist for each country ACQ consist of Evilswarm/Verz, Elemental/Incarnate Dragon, Prophecy and Mermail. The final stage of ACQ will be held at Thailand and each country champion will represent their country to compete in the event on 27th April 2013.

*E.Dragon=Elemental/Incarnate Dragon, FF=Fire Fist

Most of the time WCQ environment will be the replicate of ACQ environment, thus please stay tuned for it so that you can ready for WCQ much earlier. This time I saw a lot of E.Dragon appear in my country ACQ although the deck is bloody pricy(a deck that can cost RM1k++). As usual, most of my country players don't expect the swarming of E. Dragon deck in ACQ thus siding may not be ready for it. Nevertheless, E.Dragon is much stable now due to the release of its baby version dragon.

As a result, E. Dragon dominate the semi-final of Malaysia and Singapore ACQ. E.Dragon is just too good and currently their main opponent is Prophecy then only goes to Evilswarm. Prophecy can lock down E.Dragon by just having a Jowgen the Spiritualist and have full hand to against E.Dragon. If E.Dragon met with Prophecy then the winning ratio will be 50:50. Prophecy can build up their defense within a turn thus E.Dragon can be beat down if nothing wrong is happen.

Although Evilswarm can lock down E.Dragon and Prophecy easily, they are inconsistent. Therefore, they need Infestation Infection to exchange their hand. Evilswarm is good to against those 2 decks but they are bad to Fire Fist Tri/3-Axis Fire Fist due to FF can get rid Ophion easily through battle or Bear. Besides that, Evilswarm monster ATK point much lower than FF due to the help of Fire Formation.

So if nothing goes wrong, Prophecy may won the final of ACQ. However, I think with the release of Judgment of the Light(JOTL), FF will become super effective to against E.Dragon and Prophecy if they manage to build the consistency. 3-axis FF may be the major threat in WCQ 2013 as they have plenty of support card and its swarming mechanism quite similar with Junk Doppel. Thus do not look down this deck as they can wreck Prophecy and E.Dragon with sufficient of side.

Before I ended my post, I would like share a ruling where most of you may not seen before. If your opponent have LADD ATK position on the field and its ATK is less than your Brotherhood of Fire Fist - Bear, you perform attack with Bear and manage to destroy LADD during Damage Step. Right after After Damage Calculation, you will activate effect of Bear and LADD can negate your Bear effect as long as its ATK/DEF not less than 800/400 due to it have not sent to the graveyard. Thus please beware of this ruling.

Okay, that's all I wanna share with you guys. Thanks for your precious time and wish you guys have a nice day. Please stay tuned for my next post and I will discuss how to side against E.Dragon in next post.