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.