How to side against Prophecy?

Hey, guys! OCG environment is started swarming with Prophecy deck and soon Prophecy may conquer TCG environment as well although TCG Prophecy deck build is not cheap. Since it will become meta, thus I will share some of my thought on how to side against Prophecy especially during Game 2 & 3.

Before I proceed to the discussion, let us check out what card in current card pool that can be used to against Prophecy deck.

Monster
Archlord Kristya, Aurora Paragon, Chaos Hunter, Dark Balter the Terrible, Dark Paladin, Droll & Lock Bird, Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo, Great Shogun Shien, Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV8, Jowgen the Spiritualist, Koa'ki Meru Wall, Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En, Meklord Emperor Wisel, Naturia Beast, Number 16: Shock Master, Spell Canceller, Stardust Dragon /Assault Mode, The End of Anubis, Thunder King Rai-Oh, Vanity's Fiend, Vanity's Ruler and Void Ogre Dragon.

Spell
Deck Lockdown, Necrovalley

Trap
Anti-Spell Fragrance, Curse of Darkness, Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell, Eradicator Epidemic Virus, Imperial Iron Wall, Mind Crush, Tower of Babel and Vanity's Emptiness.

1st of all, we have 3 methods to against Prophecy deck. The 1st method is to disallow the Special Summon. Since Prophecy also focus on SS, thus we can play card that forbid from SS. The cards which in this category is Archlord Kristya, Aurora Paragon, Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo, Jowgen the Spiritualist, Vanity's Fiend, Vanity's Ruler, Deck Lockdown and Vanity's Emptiness.

Archlord Kristya and Aurora Paragon can be side by Agent Fairy player due to they are Fairy type monster. The rest of the cards can be side into almost any deck. However, you need to protect them carefully. Jowgen the Spiritualist can be side into Prophecy deck as well especially when you are having mirror match. Deck Lockdown may be suit to play for some of the deck so that Prophecy player cannot add Spellbook or SS monster from deck for 2 turns.

The 2nd method is lockdown/forbid/negate them from activate spell cards. The cards belong to this category is Dark Balter the Terrible, Dark Paladin, Great Shogun Shien, Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV8, Koa'ki Meru Wall, Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En, Meklord Emperor Wisel, Naturia Beast, Number 16: Shock Master, Spell Canceller, Stardust Dragon /Assault Mode, Void Ogre Dragon, Cursed of Darkness, Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell and Towel of Babel. Most of this card hard to be play in current meta.

For Six Samurai player, they can fit Great Shogun Shien into their main again due to it can lock down from play multiple Spellbook. They can also easily synchro summon Naturia Beast and lock them from play spell cards with the back row protection. For Infernity player, if they have god luck sack then they can control the game easily with the help of Infernity Barrier and Infernity Break.

Thus we look for 3rd method which is destroy their mechanism or tempo or combo. The cards under this category is Chaos Hunter, Droll & Lock Bird, The End of Anubis, Thunder King Rai-Oh, Vanity's Fiend, Vanity's Ruler, Deck Lockdown, Necrovalley, Anti-Spell Fragrance, Eradicator Epidemic Virus, Imperial Iron Wall and Mind Crush. Currently, Chaos Hunter, Droll & Lock Bird, Thunder King Rai-Oh and Eradicator Epidemic Virus is quite effective against Prophecy.

The rest of the cards may be varied based on situation. Basically, the mechanism of Prophecy and Spellbook quite dependent with their grave. Spellbook of the Fate, Spellbook of Life, Spellbook of Master, The Grand Spellbook Tower and High Priestess of Prophecy, all also required grave material in order to activate their effect. Thus The End of Anubis and Necrovalley can be added into your side deck option.

Apart from that, most of the Spellbook or Prophecy key card required to remove from play/banish card in order to activate their effect, thus Chaos Hunter and Imperial Iron Wall can stop their play for a long time. Mind Crush may not be too effective because they will add different type of Spellbook into their hand during End Phase thus the card that hit by Mind Crush effect will be less. EEV is hot side deck choice in Japan as Evilswarm can easily fit it in and destructive.

Anyway, I don't think Malaysian will notice of the rise of Prophecy until someone topping it in major event. Thus not much people will ready their side against it and Prophecy may have advantage in upcoming ACS. So I hope some of the Malaysian player will notice this post and take it as a friendly advice so that have less issue when you are dueling with Prophecy especially in Game 2 or 3.

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

Are you ready for Malaysia Qualifier Asia Championship 2013?

Hey, guys! Finally we have enter the month of March and the new March 2013 list will be applied. For those whose still not believe the latest ban list that I have posted last week, you can check it from here. Therefore, we will see more new meta to be formed due to new format.

New tier 1 meta will be comprise of Evilswarm, Constellar, Prophecy(currently in OCG), Mermail Atlantean, Fire Fist, Gadget variant(although number of players keep on decreasing), Geargia Elemental, Alive HERO, Mask HERO and etc. Tier 1.5 will comprise of Dark World, Wind-Up, Rabbit Laggia(also keep on less appear), Harpie Lady, HERO beat, Laval and etc.

Tier 2 comprise of Inzektor, Fire King, Hieratic, Chaos Dragon, Lightsworn, Dragunity, Agent Angel and etc. By referring to my prediction meta deck, I think you guys should have a question for why I would place Wind-Up at the tier 1.5. Many of us thought that March 2013 format will totally shut down most of the Wind-Up engine combo.

However, if you search through the card pool, you will found some combo whereby it would make Wind-Up competitive enough. They still can perform OTK with just 3 cards. The new combo for Wind-Up would be Zenmailstrom and Shark Fortress. Before I introduce the combo, let me introduce Zenmailstrom and Shark Fortress 1st.

Zenmailstrom

Zenmailstrom
Normal trap
Tribute 1 "Wind-Up" monster with 1500 or more ATK; Special Summon 1 "Wind-Up" monster from your hand, then you can Special Summon 1 "Wind-Up" monster from your deck with the same ATK as the monster Special Summoned by this effect.

The condition for activate Zenmailstrom is a bit difficult because most of the Wind-Up monster's ATK point lower than 1500. However, once you able to activate this card, then it almost ensure you will win the game.The monster that special summon from your deck via this effect can be same as the one special summon from your hand and you can choose its battle position.

Shark Fortress

Shark Fortress

Dark/Fish - Xyz - Effect/Rank 5/ATK 2400/DEF 1800
2 Level 5 monsters
Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card to target 1 face-up monster you control; that target can attack twice during each Battle Phase this turn. Other monsters you control cannot be targeted for an attack.

Shark Fortress is a good beat stick whereby it allow any of your face-up monster to attack twice during this turn's BP and without any side effect at all. It allow you to have more chances to OTK your opponent. Wind-Up is a deck where it can easily Xyz summon monster from Rank 3 to 5, thus this card is one of the good option for performing OTK.

Before I go further explain of the combo, let's have a view of the sample deck list 1st.

Monster(17):
Wind-Up Rabbit x3
Wind-Up Rat x3
Night Assailant x1
Tour Guide of the Underworld x2
Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Bear x1
Wind-Up Warrior x2
Wind-Up Shark x3
Wind-Up Soldier x1
Wind-Up Magician x1

Spell(13):
Heavy Storm x1
Pot of Duality x2
Wind-Up Factory x3
Mystical Space Typhoon x3
Monster Reborn x1
Fire Formation - Tenki x3

Trap(10):
Torrential Tribute x2
Dust Tornado x2
Zenmailstrom x2
Bottomless Trap Hole x2
Solemn Judgment x1
Solemn Warning x1

Extra Deck:
Wind-Up Zenmaines x1
Number 17: Leviathan Dragon x1
M-X-Saber Invoker x1
Gagaga Cowboy x1
Diamond Dire Wolf x1
Maestroke the Symphony Djinn x1
Wind-Up Zenmaister x1
Number 16: Shock Master x1
Number 69: Heraldry God - Coat of Arms x1
Heroic Champion - Excalibur x1
Photon Papilloperative x1
Tiras, Keeper of Genesis x1
Shark Fortress x1
Number 61: Volcasaurus x1
Gaia Dragon, The Thunder Charger x1

Due to the key card, Zenmailstrom is a trap card and it is easily to be destroy if we set it up during our turn, therefore Dust Tornado is recommended so that Zenmailstrom can be set to field during opponent's End Phase. Then during our turn, we can use it to do our combo.

Below is the combo description:

1st method: You have Fire Formation - Tenki, Wind-Up Factory, Zenmailstrom on hand.

During your turn, activate Tenki and search for Rabbit. Activate Wind-Up Factory and normal summon Rabbit and activate its effect. Rabbit's effect trigger Factory's effect, add Magician to hand using Factory effect and set Zenmailstrom.

During your next turn, return Rabbit to field and with the help of Tenki, Rabbit ATK become 1500, thus fulfill the activation condition of Zenmailstrom. Activate Zenmailstrom and SS Magician from hand and Rat from deck. Activate Rat's effect to SS Rabbit from grave, Rat's effect trigger Magician's effect.

Magician's effect SS Shark from deck, Magician's effect trigger Factory effect to add 2nd copies Rat to hand. Rat and Rabbit overlay to Xyz M-X-Saber Invoker, activate Invoker's effect and SS Warrior from deck. Activate Warrior's effect and Shark's effect to increase to lv5 and overlay to Xyz Shark Fortress.

Activate Shark Fortress's effect by detached Warrior and target itself to have twice attack. Normal summon Rat and activate Rat's effect to SS Warrior from grave. Activate Warrior's effect to increase Rat to lv4, Warrior+Rat+Magician overlay to Xyz summon Number 69: Heraldry God - Coat of Arms. Activate Number 69's effect by mimic Shark Fortress's effect and activate Number 69's effect which copy from Shark Fortress. Target Number 69 to gain twice attack and lastly all monster attack opponent.

Overall battle damage is 1600 + (2400 x 2) + (2600 x 2) = 11600. Above calculation can only be applied if the situation is without any interruption.

2nd method: You have Wind-Up Factory, Wind-Up Warrior and a set Zenmailstrom.

Activate Factory and normal summon Warrior. Activate Warrior's effect, Warrior's effect trigger Factory's effect and add Magician to hand. Activate Zenmailstrom by releasing Warrior, SS Magician from hand and SS Rat from deck. Activate Rat's effect to SS Warrior from grave, Rat's effect trigger Magician's effect and SS 2nd copies of Rat from deck.

Overlay Magician with Warrior to Xyz Papilloperative and activate Papilloperative's effect by detached Magician to change 2nd copies Rat position to ATK position. Activate 2nd copies Rat's effect to SS Magician from grave and overlay 2 Rat to Xyz Invoker. Activate Invoker's effect by detached Rat and SS Warrior/Soldier from deck.

Activate Warrior/Soldier's effect and target itself to increase to lv5 and Warrior's effect trigger Magician's effect. Magician's effect SS Shark from deck and activate Shark's effect to increase to lv5. Overlay Shark and Warrior/Soldier to Shark Fortress and activate Shark Fortress's effect to let itself to gain twice attack. Lastly, attack your opponent with Papilloperative, Shark Fortress and Invoker.

Overall battle damage is 1600 + 2100 + (2400 x 2) = 8500. If we Xyz Number 61: Volcasaurus instead of Shark Fortress during the last step, the battle damage will be 1600 + 2100 + 2600(Gaia Dragon) + ?(Opponent monster ATK point destroyed by Volcasaurus's effect) = 6300 + ?

3rd method: You have TGU and Factory on hand and a set Zenmailstrom.

Activate Factory and normal summon TGU. Activate TGU's effect SS another TGU and Xyz Invoker. Activate Invoker's effect and SS Warrior from deck. Activate Warrior's effect to increase to lv5 and Warrior's effect trigger Factory's effect. Factory's effect add Magician to hand and activate Zenmailstrom by releasing Warrior. SS Magician from hand and SS Rat from deck.

Activate Rat's effect to SS Warrior from grave and Rat's effect trigger Magician's effect. Magician's effect SS Shark from deck and activate Warrior's effect to increase Rat to lv4. Overlay Magician, Warrior and Rat to Xyz Number 69 and activate Number 69's effect to mimic the effect of Invoker. Then activate Number 69's effect which copy from Invoker and SS 2nd copies of Warrior/Soldier.

Activate 2nd copies Warrior/Soldier's and Shark's effect to increase their level to lv5 and overlay to Xyz Shark Fortress. Activate Shark Fortress's effect and target Number 69 to gain twice attack. Invoker, Shark Fortress and Number 69, all attack opponent. Total battle damage is 1600 + 2400 + (2600 x 2) = 9200. If we Xyz Volcasaurus instead of Shark Fortress during last step, total battle damage will be 1600 + 2600 + 2600(Gaia Dragon) + ?(Opponent monster ATK point destroyed by Volcasaurus's effect) = 6800 + ?

Above combo that I mentioned is initiated by a Japanese player, his original article can be found here.
Apart from that, Malaysia Qualifier Asia Championship 2013 is confirmed to be held on 24th March 2013. This time we need to online register and submit our form on tournament date. Online registration for Malaysia ACS 2013 will be available starting from 7th March 2013. Therefore, please register yourself before the seat and time is running out. You can register yourself by visit this site.

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

Official March 2013 Ban List

Hey, guys! Due to busy with my Chinese New Year celebration, thus update for post also delay. Today I will share with you guys for the Yugioh latest March 2013 list. This ban list had killed Wind-Up most important key card and TGU greatest partner. As a result, I predict that Wind-Up and TGU price in OCG will drop.

Without wasting your time, let us review what cards that affected by the March 2013 list.

Forbidden/Ban List:
Sangan
Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity

Limited/Restricted List(Max 1 piece in deck):
Wind-Up Magician
One Day of Peace
Solemn Warning

Semi-Limited/Semi-Restricted List(Max 2 pieces in deck):
Thunder King Rai-Oh
Tsukuyomi
Advanced Ritual Art

No-Longer Limited/Restricted(Max 3 pieces in deck):
Blackwing - Kalut the Moon Shadow
Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner
Spore
Shien's Smoke Signal
Mind Crush

Overall, this is the 1st list that affected the least cards for whole Yugioh environment. Same like previous year, Konami still not decide to hit any cards for Meta that formed after the effective of September 2012 list. With this list, some of the tier 2 decks may rise to tier 1 again. Dark World may back to stage again to compete with most of the Meta due to the unlimit of Mind Crush.

This time Konami had decided to shut down the main key of Wind-Up by banning Carrier Zenmaity and limit the play of Magician. Therefore, the speed of Wind-Up deck will drastically slow down and OTK lesser to happen. TKRO is limit to 2 copies so that search engine and SS of monster hardly to be block by it.

Many people still doubt regarding the limit of One Day of Peace and Solemn Warning. For me, hitting Solemn Warning is reasonable because Konami want us to have more aggressive play rather than defensive play and increase the game speed. One Day of Peace is an important key for decks such as FTK Exodia, Final Countdown, Prophecy and etc so that they can stay longer.

The unlimit of Kalut and Lumina may not significantly provoke the play of Blackwing and Lightsworn in the tournament due to their speed is slower compare with most of the Meta today. However, the unlimit of Shien's Smoke Signal may increase the speed of Six Samurai a little bit. Anyway, Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En still in 1 copy thus the deck flow still balance.

Apart from that, we may see that synchro-oriented deck compete in World Championship 2013 soon. I predict this situation may occur due to the upcoming booster, Judgment of The Light introduce some new synchro monster and new tuner as well. Hopefully synchro monster will not just release in this booster but other booster as well.

Besides that, for those that have tried of Incarnate Dragon, it is a well-build theme card and you can play the deck very easily. It is a nice deck that well-designed by Konami and luckily all their effects can only be activate Once per turn. Else this deck is much powerful than Inzektor. This deck allow you to Xyz summon Number 11: Big Eye easily.

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

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.

Great News for most OCG players

Hey, guys! The upcoming Gold Series(GS2013) definitely is one of the most valuable set that must list into to buy list. It is packed with almost all kind of useful cards such as Effect Veiler, Naturia Beast, Black Rose Dragon, Lavalval Chain, Forbidden Chalice, Macro Cosmo, Mind Control and etc. As a result, I have decide to buy 3 boxes of GS2013 so that the chances to hit a NR may be a bit higher.

As I have mentioned in my previous posts, Heraldic Beast deck is one of my major target to be build and currently I still seeking for a stable build. So far the build is still unstable because I found it hard to against most of the big ATK monster. If I play pure Heraldic Beast build then it will be more slow. Anyway, I will modify it till I feel it is pretty solid then only share the deck build with you guys.

Evilswarm started began popular in Malaysia now due to this deck can beat down most of the Meta deck in Game 1 and it is quite a cheap deck. Therefore, a lot of player choose to play it during the Yu-Gi-Oh! Malaysia Open Tournament 2012. Apart from that, quite a number of players playing Fire Fist during the tournament and 3 Fire Fist succeed to enter the final of the tournament.

This proves that not many of the players aware of Fire Fist and the 1st runner-up is playing the Fire Fist build without any side and promos. Therefore, we can see that Fire Fist is quite a stable as they can counter most of the Meta easily. I can see that Fire King and Fire Fist raise to tier 1 after March 2013 ban list. Thus please don't feel surprise with their result.

By the way, lately I have seen several Spellbook Prophecy deck appearing in some of the major tournament. However, they haven't topping in those event yet else the deck may become hot deck. Spellbook Prophecy is not a bad deck but they easily lack of monster. In other words, they still requires some low level beat stick spellcaster.

Anyway, I do have a OCG Spellbook Prophecy build in my DN account. I haven't test the deck yet but you guys may test the deck build. Below is my deck build:

You may ignore the Extra deck as I simply put any synchro/Xyz monster into it. Hopefully you guys can make use of their combo wisely. The combo basically is starting from Secret search for Master then search for Tower. From there, the loop will keep on going on if the Tower can stand at the field. Treacherous Trap Hole is the lonely trap in the deck and it will act as your defensive trap.

Spellbook Prophecy is deck where you will gain hand card advantage in a slow tempo. However, if you able to survive through the huge wave of attack, then 80% of the time, you will win the game afterward due to too much hand card advantage. The side deck of Spellbook Prophecy might be a bit difficult to build due to the whole deck not much slot to swap side cards.

For the side deck, you may put Dimensional Fissure, MST, Royal Decree, Oracle of the Sun and etc. The most difficult part of siding for Spellbook Prophecy is what monster that you requires to side due to not much power spellcaster monster to be put in the side. For the side deck that I have put in this picture, you may ignore it because some of the cards may not work on you guys.

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.

Change of Card Quality in OCG!

Hey, guys! SD24 has arrived at OCG and many OCG players found out that its card quality dropping. The most important point is it is MADE IN USA. Konami has switched its card factory from China to USA due to money issue.

I'm not sure what have happen to KDE(Konami Digital Entertainment) and seems like they are owing the China factory for several months of payment(received the unofficial news from China website). This has caused the factory to unemployed some of the foreign workers. Due to factory lack of money to operate, as a result, they also stop producing cards for Konami.

Therefore Konami find other vendors to solve this issue. Hopefully Konami will solve this issue soon and restore our OCG card quality again because I so like with the old card quality. Apart from that, I also a bit late to update a few new rulings regarding Swap Frog.

Swap Frog
Q1: When I have activate its 3rd effect to return itself to the hand as a cost of activation, then I SS it from hand again. Can I activate its 3rd effect to return itself to the hand again?
A1: Its effect can only be activate once per turn. If the situation is as stated above, then you are not allowed to activate its 3rd effect again.

Q2: If my field have 2 Swap Frog, can I activate Swap Frog's 3rd effect?
A2: NO, CANNOT activate its effect UNLESS ONLY 1 Swap Frog on the field.

Q3: After Evilswarm Castor was successfully summoned, if I have activate Swap Frog's 3rd effect, can I normal summon any Ilswarm or Frog monster?
A3: In such case, NEITHER Ilswarm or Frog monster can be normal summon.

Q4: After Karakuri Komachi mdl 224 "Ninishi" was successfully summoned, if I have activate Swap Frog's 3rd effect, can I normal summon any Karakuri or Frog monster?
A4: In such case, NEITHER Karakuri or Frog monster can be normal summon.
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Besides that, I also share the latest ruling for cards reprint in SD24: Assault of the Flame King so that you guys can play the deck more confidently. If you have any doubt of the answer, kindly leave your message and I will reply it as soon as possible.

Fire King High Avatar Garunix
Q1: What is the category of its effect?
A1: All 3 effect is trigger effect. Its 1st effect which activate when it was destroyed WILL OPEN a chain link while its effect that activate during Standby Phase will NOT OPEN a chain link.

Q2: When its SS effect that activate in the graveyard was negated by LADD or etc, can I activate its SS effect again within the same turn's Standby Phase?
A2: No, you CANNOT activate it.

Q3: If it was destroyed while it was treated as EQUIP CARD, can I activate its SS effect?
A3: Yes, you CAN do so.

Q4: During Standby Phase, effect of Fire King High Avatar Garunix and Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys activate at the same time, how do I resolve it?
A4: 1st, Fire King High Avatar Garunix will SS itself from your graveyard via its effect, then all monster on the field except itself will be destroy. After that, Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys will SS itself from your graveyard via its effect, all spell/trap will be destroy. If their effect are activate simultaneously, you can arrange them to resolve according to your choice.

Q5: If it was destroyed during this turn's Draw Phase, does its SS effect activate within this turn's Standby Phase? If it was destroyed during this turn's Standby Phase, does its SS effect activate during next Standby Phase?
A5: Yes, you are CORRECT.
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Fire King Avatar Barong
Q1: What is the category of its effect?
A1: Both effect also trigger effect. Besides that, its 1st effect can be activate if Fire King monster was destroyed by card's effect in chain link 2.

Q2: If it is destroyed by card effect and sent to graveyard, during next standby phase, it is no longer in the graveyard, can I activate its effect?
A2: No, you CANNOT activate its effect.
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Fire King Avatar Qilin
Q1: What is the category of its effect?
A1: Both effect also trigger effect. Besides that, its 1st effect can be activate if Fire King monster was destroyed by card's effect in chain link 2.

Q2: Can I activate its SS effect and send a Fire attribute monster from deck during Damage Step?
A2: You CANNOT activate its SS effect but you CAN activate its send a Fire attribute monster from deck during Damage Step.
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Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys
Q: If it was destroyed while it was treated as EQUIP CARD, can I activate its SS effect?
A: Yes, you can do so.
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Assault of the Fire King
Q1: Does the destruction effect during End Phase would trigger a chain link?
A1: No, it DOES NOT trigger a chain link.

Q2: Does monster effect that activate in the graveyard would be negated?
A2: Monster effect that activate in the graveyard will NOT be negate.

Q3: Does its destruction effect treated as "card's effect destruction"?
A3: Yes, it IS a card's effect destruction.

Q4: Can Forbidden Lance avoid the applied of its destruction effect?
A4: During the timing where the monster is SS via this card effect, Forbidden Lance effect is not applied yet(due to the monster haven't SS from the deck and no target to activate it), therefore, even Forbidden Lance's effect has applied afterward, the destruction effect(Assault of the Fire King) still cannot be avoided.

Q5: If the monster SS via this card effect is equipped with Buster Blaster and Bluster Blaster substituted it from destroyed during this turn's End Phase, during the next End Phase would the monster SS via this card effect destroy(due to this card effect)?
A5: Yes, the monster WILL BE destroy.

Q6: If Assault of the Fire King was negated by Solemn Judgment, can I activate 2nd copies of Assault of the Fire King within this turn?
A6: Yes, you CAN do so.

Q7: There is monster on your field when this card effect is resolving, does the SS effect still resolve?
A7: Yes, it WILL resolve normally. If the monster zone is fully occupied when this card effect is resolving, then its result still under regulation/unconfirmed.
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Fire King Fire Cycle
Q1: Can I select face-down Fire attribute monster?
A1: No, you can't.

Q2: Does the destruction and SS resolve simultaneously?
A2: Yes, they resolve simultaneously.

Q3: If the selected monster in my graveyard no longer at there(graveyard) when this card effect is resolving, does the selected monster on my field would be destroy?
A3: Yes, the selected monster WILL still be destroy.

Q4: If the selected monster on my field no longer there(field) when this card effect is resolving, does the selected monster in my graveyard would be SS?
A4: No, the selected monster WILL NOT be SS.

Q5:  If the selected monster on my field was face-down when this card effect is resolving, does the destruction and SS still resolve normally?
A5: Under regulation/Unconfirmed.

Q6:  If the selected monster on my field was change control to opponent when this card effect is resolving, does the destruction and SS still resolve normally?
A6: No, NEITHER destroy NOR SS will be resolve.

Q7: If Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV6 or Metaion, the Timelord on my field was selected, does the SS effect still resolve normally?
A7: You may choose Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV6, however, NO destruction of the selected monster thus NO SS effect will be resolve.

Q8: If this card was negated by Magic Jammer, can I activate 2nd copies of Fire King Fire Circle?
A8: Yes, you CAN do so.

Q9: Can I select the non-Fire attribute monster that is changed to Fire attribute due to DNA Transplant as destruction target?
A9: Yes, you CAN do so.

Q10: If the selected monster on my field is change to non-Fire attribute when this card effect is resolving, does the destruction and SS still resolve normally?
A10: Under regulation/Unconfirmed.

Seems like Konami will reprint a lot of goodies in OCG Gold Series 2013. If the news came true then this gold series will be the 1st ever gold series that reprint a lot of good and worthy stuff. Other than this, the upcoming booster Lord of the Tachyongalaxy might be another hot booster. Hopefully Konami will not let us down for this booster.

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