Yu-Gi-Oh! Game Analysis Week 15

By Froylan Carreno

Everything has come down to this. The last I week I'm obliged to write this blog. And the last week before the new ban list is announced this Friday. I have to say, it's been really therapeutic writing these articles, and I have enjoyed writing them as well. Though I realize I'm mostly writing these to myself and no one will probably ever read all these articles to their completion. My words are my own.

Any who, everyone is just up in arms debating what the ban list will do to the meta. I could really care less but I just want Konami to hit Dragon Rulers, and FINISH them off once and for all (whereas they failed horrible last ban list at hitting them). I haven't been doing much of anything Yugioh related, too busy with other things. I was just on DN using Lightsworns. The deck was not as broken as people thought they were going to be. I lost to a Cyber Dragon deck with it's own new support, and personally I think it's a lot better than the Lightsworn support. Heck. Cyber Dragons even got an Xyz monster that is pretty good, because it fucked me up good. Though to be fair, I did draw pretty bad, and it looked he drew pretty good.

In other news, I still only have one lame Inzektor deck I've had since and much before I started writing this blog. I've been meaning to get a 2nd deck for a long time, but there are just so many choices on decks I could use, it's very hard to make up my mind. I want to find a deck that cheap, cool, and wins at least somewhat often. Among those I chose Hieratics, Battlin' Boxers, Traptrix, Bujins, and couple of other decks I can't remember. I'm just so indecisive even now. Inzektors have served me well up to now, I'm going to consider dismantling them until much later.

I'm really out of ideas to write about now. Things have been extra slow lately. The only things going on is the ban list's approach, and for many it's like an early Christmas. lol. Nothing really big is going to happen until after it's released, and after that nothing else until January. I might come back here and write about it. But now I will have my own schedule. And I'll be able to write about other things besides Yugioh, because frankly I get tired writing about news that no one really cares about, or they already know. I want to write about Pokemon or anime, or even about my freaking day. I love Yugioh, but I didn't realize writing about it would be so . . . trying. When I go off, I go off though and I could write for pages upon pages of nothing but Yugioh. Hmmmmm maybe I just wanted to express my opinion instead of writing Yugioh news. Yeah I think I'll do that now. For now though, I have a lot of other homework to get to, and they all need doing. To the one or two people who read this to their entirety. I salute you.

you.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Game Analysis Week 14

By Froylan Carreno

Time and time again, Yu-Gi-Oh has mesmerized me. The amount of times you get good deals on cards from friends and vendors, and the times you get ripped off by them. In a way, it's a lot like real life and if that's not deep, I don't know what is. Really, that's all this article really needs, but some things have been buzzing around the Yu-Gi-Oh world. The ban list is upon us soon, and its hard to believe it's already been almost 15 weeks since the the new/old banlist was unveiled, and since I started writing this blog. Its been a good run, but I think I might just update this blog every now and then, even after my class ends on the 15th week. But for now its Yu-Gi-Oh talking time.

Konami has been a bit excited about this month's banlist. Not only did they announced a release date for it, they also hinted at what might be in it. Anything from unbanning Crush Card Virus (a very OP and expensive card that basically kills every deck) to supporting zombies and Batterymen with getting some of their support back from the banlist. But really, I'm just hoping they unban SOMETHING, since nothing has been unbanned for over a year, and the unbanning is my personal favorite part of the banlist. I really thought it was shame they didn't unban anything in forever, but this time around we might all get a break! Also, the ban list will almost undoubtedly hit Dragon Rulers, and like Prophecy and Constellers as well, to name a few. It would be nice if my Inzektors could get a boost from the ban list as well, but I know just would they could do if they got their old power back.

Honestly, I haven't been on DN, in a while. I have too much other stuff to do, but I have been keeping up with some of the big Yu-Gi-Oh players on Youtube. Too much to my delight, they've informed me that there are several decks besides Dragon Rulers starting to top regional events. I gave this some thought and came up with some theories: Perhaps people are starting to become aware that Rulers will get the ax this coming ban list, or maybe they were just tired of using them. Either way, this is great news that pleases me. Yu-Gi-Oh is a card game that needs to be about variety, not a one single deck absolutely killing every other deck (cough Dragon Rulers). Dragons have had their time, and it's time for the ban list to put them down.

To close things off, I'm about one week short of getting the 15 articles I need for the class so I just might write one last of these later today or tommorow. I enjoy writing these, but at my own pace and when I feel like it. Lately, other hobbies have been interesting me a bit more than this game, but Yu-Gi-Oh will always be there, at least in my heart. Because I just got back into Pokemon, and boy is it back more than ever. Even so, I will write another article as soon as I can. For the sake of the class and my conscience.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Game Anaylsis; Week 13

By Froylan Carreno

I find it funny as soon as "Number 7: Big Eye" got reprinted, everyone starts pulling him out out of his native pack. Before, he was worth nearly a hundred dollars (and was one of the few cards to ever reach that threshold), and after his reprint as a PROMO card, his price hiked down to 30$, and will probably continue to spiral downwards. Most of the other secret rare cards that were reprinted as promos are now worth less than 10$, when at their peaks could have been worth upwards of 50$. It really sucks when one of your expensive cards gets reprinted, but that's Yugioh for you: A bet, or a an investment. You pull an expensive or good card you don't need, your objective is to sell or trade it as fast as possible (unless you want to keep it to make your trade binder look pretty, like me). To put this cards value in perspective, "Big Eye" had the effect to take any monster from the opponent field, and allowed Big Eye's controller to use it as its own. Since there are not many legal cards that have this effect, Big Eye was believed, and is still considered, one of the strongest monsters of all time. For me personally, he is on my list of cards that NEEDS to go to one via the ban list. Only having to worry about one Big Eye is not nearly as bad as having to worry about 3 that could all sometimes be made in one turn. He was partly broken, and shot up in price, due to Dragon Rulers, and Dragon Rulers alone. Big Eye was originally a ten dollar card, until word got out that you could make rank 7 Xyz's easily with Dragon Rulers, and before Draccosac, Big Eye was the only good rank 7 Xyz. Then Draccosac himself was released, and all hell was unleashed with the unstoppable power of Dragon Rulers. So one could say, Dragon Rulers would not be what they are today without the assistance of Big Eye. And vice-versa. 

Recently on DN, I've been playing with Lightsworns, an old archetype that recently just got support. Overall, the new reformed deck is not as good as it used to be, and perhaps even worse since you have to sacrifice many cards in the deck to squeeze all the new cards and the cards that you now have to run to make the most of them. The deck definitely has had me some awesome duels, but some equally disappointing ones as well. Right now I am just trying to enjoy dueling with it, and not worrying much about how good or bad it is. The deck works and can hold its own and that's mostly all that matters. Like most decks on DN, I will eventually lose interest in it, but if I deem it to be competitive, it will most likely remain on my list of favorite decks. 

Not much else to speak about. Nothing Yu-Gi-Oh noteworthy is occurring in the coming weeks, except the ban list in about a month's time. I've been talking about it for a while now, and now that its approaching I feel weird getting a ban list so quickly after another. Originally, another ban list would not have been released until March, but this new system is much more copacetic for me, and likely for everyone else as well---Simply for the fact Dragon Rulers, and any other broken cards, will hopefully have a much shorter life span, thereby improving the Yu-Gi-Oh game, and meta in general. So yeah, only a few weeks left until then, and until then. Or a little before lol. 

Yu-Gi-Oh! Game Analysis; Week 12

By Froylan Carreno

Yeah I changed up the title a bit. I might change it around some more later on. But yeah a bit has happened since last week. Konami announced a special re-release of Battle Pack 2: War of the Giants, that by itself is not very newsworthy, but it's the promos that are being put in it that are significant: "Safe Zone, "High Priestess of Prophecy", "Number 11: Big Eye", "Fog King", and "Dragunity Knight - Vajrayana." All these cards are EXCELLENT reprints that all were worth at least 20$ before this sets announcement. Naturally, their prices will drop significantly, as is the case with all reprinted cards. For me personally, the only card I will be looking to get is "Safe Zone, as the other cards are mostly archetype specific, and have no use outside of their respective decks. Could these reprints be meta changing? No, simply because Dragon Rulers are still around, and they ain't taking no one's @#$%. just yet. Either way, this set would have gone largely unnoticed and unpopular if it wasn't for the inclusion of these reprints, which by the way are getting reprinted as Ultra Rare. It sucks the most when a one-rarity card is reprinted as a promo in the exact same rarity. However, there are no Ultra Rare Cards being reprinted in this set.

Honestly, I've been playing Call of Duty mostly since last week, but I have had some time to continue playing on DN with Traptrix. They've been pretty successful for being such a small and poorly know archetype. They've done well enough that I'm actually considering building them in real life. They are cheap, easy to find, and almost every backrow card it needs I already have. The only problems with it are that you almost always have to go first, or you will have a tough time winning, as the deck lacks big monsters to kill other monsters already on the field, excluding the Extra Deck. Really, it's a deck that could be much better if it had a bit more support. Ergo, the deck has really not been doing great in the meta, but I have heard of it topping a tournament once or twice in the past. I guess they can be considered a rogue deck because of that fact. Though they still have a long way to go to become Tier 2 or higher.

On a more personal note, one of my friends has been spending a crap ton of money on Yu-Gi-Oh cards since he got financial aid, and went from having nearly nothing, to having almost something. . . which is not much but I guess it's still better than nothing. He is also playing Call of Duty, and he seems to enjoy it almost as much as I do. It's just so amusing, it's been distracting me from almost everything. Hmmmm but I just finished a duel on DN, and the dude ragequit because I basically killed his whole field with my backrow (Backrow = Spells/Traps in the "backrow") A lot of people actually quit, and it's pretty amusing. Though I don't get any experience points, the experience itself is self-motivating. For me, at least. GG until next week. Lol.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Meta Analysis Week 11

By Froylan Carreno

Hello everybody! Just trying to catch up a bit here. Hopefully I'll only be a day or two behind after this, if at all. So really, not much has happened since yesterdery... but there I'll some things I forgot to mention. Yesterday I traded quite a bit of my actual cards for money and other cards I thought would be nice. I got a "Fusion Devourer" and a "Sage of Silence." The cards themselves are pretty much useless and worthless, but I really like the art on them.I traded some cards I didn't really use or care about so it was about worth it. I also got 20$ for selling my "Diagusto Emeral," a card that is realllllllly pretty and somewhat useful, but my friend just kept begging me to sell it to him, and I kind of felt bad for saying no for so long, so I sold him it^_^.

I'm still on the fence of what second deck I want to make, it could be either Battlin' Boxers, Heiratics, or Bujins. All 3 decks are good in their in retrospect, the best one probably being Bujins (but also the most expensive). Battlin' Boxers would probably be the cheapest and easiest deck to play/build, but likely also the weakest and relies too heavily on protecting one monster. Heiratics would be somewhere in between these two, but it's much more inconsistent than the other two decks put together. You essentially have one play, and if you exhaust all your resources making that play, you're almost guaranteed to lose. If I had to chose, I would play none of these decks. If Ghostricks were good, I'd definitely be playing those, or if I had the money to afford one of my good decks on DN, I would build one of those instead. But remember, one always has to weary of the ban list, and all the major changes it might bring to the Meta. Oh, and I don't know if I've mentioned this, but I collect banned cards. No real reason, except its' just cool, and some cards rocket up in price when they get unbanned, or even when they are rumored to be going to be unbanned... Lol.

Still a crap load of bad players playing Dragon Rulers on DN, but I've gotten used to it. Noble Knight cards in Shadow Specters is a crap ton of money, as expected. And all the decks that actually need support, like Toons, Ojamas, and Spirits, have no new support, as usual. If you play Yu-Gi-Oh, you learn to expect a lot of things from Konami, primarily to never expect much of them. They don't go by what people ask for, only what will line their pockets with the prettiest wall paper. I really hate it when they reprint cards that did NOT need a reprint, like "Gagaga Cowboy", and BLS. There were tons of other cards that were more in demand, and harder to get, with too many of them to name. If they really want to make money, and keep their consumers happy, they should listen with what we have to say, or at least what I say:
1. Better ban lists, by unbanning more cards that will do nothing if they come back, and by banning more cards that NEED to be banned IMMEDIATELY.
2. Give archetypes that actually NEED support... support! Like Toons, Spirits, Ojamas, and Bujins! Don't just give them random shitty cards either. They've done that before, and only angered everyone.
3. FIX first turn advantage. It really sucks that going first almost guarantees you a win. It would STRONGLY help if they made 1st turn player skip their Draw Phase and Battle Phase turn 1, or prevent them from activating any card effects or Special Summoning any monsters that turn. This is my #1 pet peeve about Yu-Gi-Oh!
4. When there is STRONG demand for it, reprint a card that people are actually asking for. Don't just reprint random shitty cards or cards that have been expensive forever and are un-usable this format. That just hurts long-time players, and gives them second thoughts about purchasing card packs.
5. As much as I like exclusive cards for the TCG, I still think OCG gets far better treatment from Konami, and it should be nearly equal. It's not fair that almost every card there is low-rarity, and all the good cards are bumped up in rarity here in the TCG. Everything gets released WAY earlier in the OCG as well. And they get AMAZING bundles over there that never, ever make it overseas. Even their ban list is better than ours, and they've literally been the same until September 1st arrived. . . And that's your Konami lesson for today.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Meta Analysis Week 10

By Froylan Carreno

Yay or neigh? Celebrate my tenth blog post? Heck might as well. Well, no, not really:/ The meta is starting to somewhat become visible for the next format. Dragons SHOULD and hopefully will be gone this January (because they are beyoooooooond annoying.) I think I've outgrown my Bujin fetish, for now at least. At the moment, I'm using Noble Knights, and with the new support they've just received, I can see them being a solid rogue deck next format. Rogue decks are decks that capable of holding their own against other decks in the game, including some meta decks. They will occasionally top a tournament, and usually gives players false hopes of them becoming meta. But just because a deck tops once or twice, does not mean it the deck that's "the one". The deck that is "the one" will be the one that is constantly topping EVERY tournament and claims around 12 of the 16 top spots. And almost ALWAYS, making this deck will cost you around a 1000 big ones. If Noble Knights are "the one", since almost every important card is Secret Rare, the deck could easily soar above 1000$.

So yeah, Noble Knights are pretty chill to use. Not too OP, not too weak sauce. Just made a Dragon Ruler player on DN ragequit, and it felt OH so good. I even took a picture to commemorate this event.
I can't near describe the thrill when I make a Dragon Ruler player quit. Almost brings a tear to my eye. Yes. Oh and Shadow Specters is about to be released in the TCG. Not toooooooo many good cards in there, at least not enough for me to go out and buy a shit ton of packs. Everything good I might pull I will likely just trade to friends who need it more than I do. But there's really nothing like the experience of cracking open a brand new pack of cards,except maybe actually pulling something good from one of them (which is hard as @#$%). I will suppress my hunger to finish writing this article. The world must know what I have to say... Toast. Toast is pretty freaking good right about now, lol.

In other words, I plan to go out sometime in the week to buy a special edition of Judgment of the Light, the as of this moment newest Yu-Gi-Oh card pack. I'm not sure why, I guess I just want the box more than anything else. Everything else inside is just a nice bonus<3 Still would be nice to pull some Bujin stuff to motivate me to make the deck in real life. But Call of Duty Ghosts just came out! And there's just so much stuff to do, I can't even seem to fit much time in for Yu-Gi-Oh anymore! But I can always try to squeeze a littttttttle bit every now and then. Perhaps more next week, huh?

Yu-Gi-Oh! Meta Analysis Week 9

By Froylan Carreno

Meta wise, not much has happenend in the last few days. Bujins still have a soft spot in my heart, but they will have a tough time competing in the next meta. Lightsworns, to my huge distaste, will be recieving great support in the coming months, and their main boss monster, Judgment Dragon, is the thing of nightmares for Bujins. It has the ability to destroy ALL cards on the feild, and there is no protection from that in a Bujin deck. I believe there were a plethora of other decks that more desperately needed support, like Toons and Crystal Beasts. It's a dissapointment really, but that's just how the game is sometimes. Just like with the ban list.

Indeed, Dragon Rulers are becoming a huge nuisance on DN as well About 40% of the decks I run into are Dragon Rulers. And even though my Bujins don't have a terrible match-up against them, it still irratiates me that people would resort to using such skill-less decks, especially when they have a high rating -- It's almost guranteed they are using Dragons.

Oh, and I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but Noble Knights are getting some great support as well. Their support is so good, that the deck may actually have a chance of becoming Meta next format. However, there is a part of me that cringes at the sight of all the support they are getting. For one thing, many of the cards you have to run only come in Secret Rare, which often propels the card to 50+$ if the card is really good. Also, Noble Knights are getting support from the rulings themselves, and using them to their advantage. But in the end, I would much rather see Noble Knights becoming #1 in the Meta than Dragon Rulers or Prophecy. The deck is not broken from what I've seen, but is preety damn good when run correctly.

On a last note, it's always nice to note all the past decks of the format that were the best in the Meta: Macro Rabbit, Inzektors, Tele-Dad, T.G Agents, Six Samurai, X-Sabers, Chaos Dragons, and tons more. These decks, at their respective times, we're all considered equally as broken as Dragon Rulers, and it makes one think.... Which deck really was the most broken deck ever? What was the most broken card ever? "Tour Guide from the Underworld" maybe? She's still at 2 but has been severely neatured by the ban of Sangan last year, and the fall of the best decks she was used in. I personally think "Dragged Down into the Grave" is the most annoying and broken card at 3 right now, and I would not care one bit if it went straight to banned. But that's just me.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Meta Analysis Week 8

By Froylan Carreno

Ah yes, just trying to catch up a bit here. Not much has happened since a few days ago. I have been on DN for extended periods of time this week. I've just fallen in love with Bujins, a somewhat new deck that is perfectly balanced: Not too overpowered and not too under powered. The whole point of the deck is to set up your graveyard with Bujin monsters, while at the same time maintaining feild presence with a Beast-Warrior type Bujin monster. You really can't do much without the Beast-Warrior Bujin monsters, and if you don't draw into one early on in the game, you won't last long in a competitive duel very long. However, in my opinion, the deck could be muchhhhhhhh better if you could use the effects of the Bujin monsters in the grave during either players turn. There is also a need for a Bujin monster that can destroy face-down cards. They also need some better Spell/Trap card support, since what there is does not help a player much in terms of keeping advantage. I have been winning most of my duels the past couple of days, and when I did lose, it was because I drew bad -- really bad, or my opponent was just flat out using Dragon Rulers. I hate how there's not much Bujins can do against cards like Dark Hole or Black Rose Dragon -- Cards that destroy whole fields, and since there is not much room in my deck for back-row, I can rarely stop them.

Just to say so, I've recently redid one my Yu-Gi-Oh trade binders, and made it look much more homely and pretty. Not many of friends will care, and most won't even notice, but I will, and really that's all that matters. I got into Yu-Gi-Oh of my own accord, and I've been playing it for over a decade. I've spent at least 1000$ on it over the years, and now that I think about it, about 800 of those dollars went to waste, to rot in worthless common cards I have in tins and binders. Am I proud of all the money I've spent on this game? No, not really. But it's my hobby, and people are known to spend shit tons of money on their hobby, so this should be socially acceptable. But one does not simply go out and say "I've spent thousands of dollars on a children's card game, let's go out." It's just dumb how some people have spent the same amount of money on shoes, clothes, electronics, whatever it may be, and that's perfectly fine. But we get a bad rep, for investing in things that are harmless. Some people just don't realize that pouring money into this is much better than emptying our wallets for illegal drugs and prostitutes. I don't know...

Kind of went on a tangent there, but I'm just writing what comes to mind -- And I have a lot of things on my mind-_- In other words, almost everyone is using Dragon Rulers on DN, and it's not pissing anyone off more than me. So infuriating to see bad players using good decks, and I'll soak up their tears when the deck gets destroyed by the ban list. I even had one complaining to me that Bujins were too overpowered, and he quit. The laughter in me quickly faded when I truly realized how much of a complete hypocrite he was, and that most people have his mentality: Whatever hurts me is bad, and whatever gets hurt by me is just another victim. And even when Dragon Rulers do get hit, these exact same players will just move onto the best next thing, whatever it may be. It's looking pretty good for Noble Knights and Dark Worlds but who knows. I know everyone, including me, will take exception to whatever starts winning too many tournaments. And everyone will still hate Dragon Rulers even then. People still hate on my Inzektors, and they're not even doing anything this format... Hypocrites the lot of them. One last note: "Dragged Down Into the Grave" needs to get limited or banned. Please do something right Konami.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Meta Analysis Week 7

By Froylan Carreno

The week has been a bit hot about Yu-Gi-Oh, more so than usual so I have a couple of things to talk about today. A couple of decks that aren't Dragon Rulers (for once) have been topping several tournaments, such as Madolches and Constellars, decks that are really only average on the grand scale. Whenever a deck like that tops, it makes it gain attention world wide, and (usually) some unique tech in cards could skyrocket in price, but usually also fall back down in price eventually. Cards like those are usually meta-dependent, meaning their usefulness varies depending on what decks are good. For example, "Imperial Iron Wall" is a 5$ common, and commons very rarely excel more than 3$. This card in particular is devastating to Dragon Rulers, as it essentially shuts the whole deck down, and can mean a guaranteed loss if it is not removed from the field. Another card, "Gozen Match" also devastates the deck, as it basically only allows Dragon Ruler players to control one monster. Overall, I like any card that hurts Dragon Ruler decks, but because of how they resourceful they are, they can also get rid of any card that threatens them with "Blaster", the strongest dragon in the deck, and has the ability to destroy any card on the field.

There have also been an extra amount of Yu-Gi-Oh memes going about the internet, particularly ones about the card "Mystical Space Typhoon" being able to negate the effects of cards. MST only destroys the activated card, but does not actually the effect of the card, so MST'ing anything that was just activated is 90% of the time incredibly pointless. It's better to just let MST sit in your backrow until your opponent sets a card, and then during the End Phase you activate your MST so your opponent cannot chain it (It is impossible to activate a face-down Spell Speed 2 card the turn it was set.) Spell Speeds are just a fancy term for saying which cards take "priority" in a chain, or what cards can be activated at certain times. Usually, only quick-monster effects and Spell Speed 3 can negate a Spell Speed 2 effect, like that of Dark Hole. "Solemn Judgment" was a great example of this negating power, before it was unfortunately banned in September. I think I've said just about all I wanted to get off my chest, so I'll call it a day until next week, or maybe earlier. Not sure what I'll be discussing. But yeah lates. 

Yu-Gi-Oh! Meta Analysis Week 6

By Froylan Carreno

Yes yes, this is one week late. I've been really busy with other school work and personal dilemmas to pour all my focus into writing this. I still hope to catch up with some 2-3 more posts in the coming weeks, but for now, I will update on whats been going on for the past weeks and days. Also, these posts are going to become more subjective than objective, simply because it's a bit more entertaining if I can write about my actual thoughts -- And I will also be more loosely talking through the game's jargon and I will try to post some pictures to make this a tiny bit more interesting to read. Actually, I think I will make this week's post more on the humerous side, since I'm really not in the mood to think heavily about anything right now. Here is a sample of a Yu-Gi-Oh! card I created online, for laughs.

That is me. 

I used to create cards like this all the time in my spare time, but what with school and all, it's kind of been pushed way back. Nowadays, I'm more interested in creating internet memes, ranging from the well known to the little known. Here is a decent one I found, pertaining to Yu-Gi-Oh!: 

I found this ridicoulsly funny the first time I saw it, because every statement within this picture is false, including the picture itself. The character being displayed is the main character in the original Yu-Gi-Oh! show, named Yami (In this form), and NOT Goku. And he is especially not a Pokemon trainer, but fans of both often like to compare them. I could read memes like these all day, but of course, time is of the essence. I have been on DN a few times, and I've been trying out an Assault Dragon Ruler deck, and it has proven to be both fun and competitive -- Though the deck itself is considered too OP and I few bad for using it sometimes. I'm trying to get an app that lets me play DN on my phone, but the warnings about doing so dissuade me. I am hungry and tired right now, while I type this, and I have an urge to play DN. There should be a bunch of new cards added to DN in a few weeks, and I will definitely be talking about those (if they are good) Oh and I just got some sleeves for my virtual cards on DN. I will post a picture of them in another post, but for now, I'm going to call it a night and maybe I'll cuddle up with my trade binder that I recently thought was stolen... Turns out my uncle was just hiding it with a couple of my other things, oblivious to the value of them. I'm just glad it wasn't really stolen, or I might have just quit Yu-Gi-Oh! out of depression and anger. The same thing happened to my obsession with Pokemon, but that's a whole different topic. For now, I just need to prepare myself for the weeks to come, but I'll be on my game to catch up this blog to the current date (hopefully). 

Yu-Gi-Oh! Meta Analysis Week 5

By Froylan Carreno

Things in the Yu-Gi-Oh! world have been slow for a while now. Not much noteworthy news has surmised, and I don't see any being announced any time soon. However, some things that were announced was support for several card archetypes, including Lightsworns and Ghostricks. Lightsworns are a powerful deck that rely on sending cards straight from the deck to the Graveyard via card effects, by whatever form necessary. Ghostricks are a new archetype that still has not been released outside of Asian countries.  They rely on the power of negating attacks and putting the opponent in a tight, uncomfortable corner. Both decks have potential to potentially become Meta with the addition of these new support cards.

Lightsworns are an older archetype that was actually once considered Meta long ago. The whole point of the deck is to dump as many Lightsworn monsters in the grave as possible as fast as possible, in order to summon their big monsters like "Judgment Dragon," who has the ability to destroy all cards on the field. In terms of new support, they will be getting a strong level 4 tuner monster with no drawbacks that can increase it's own attack by sending cards from the top of the deck to the Grave -- Which only benefits the deck. In addition, they will be getting another level 2 tuner named "Minerva, Lightsworn Maiden", who in my opinion, is even better than the level 4 tuner, "Raiden, Lightsworn Assailant." "Minerva" has multiple useful effects, but her most prominent effect being the ability to search and add "Judgment Dragon" from the deck to the hand, which was a wildfire of excitement for a short time. In order to search "Judgment Dragon," you have to have 8 or more Lightsworn monsters with different names in your Graveyard -- A task that is hard even for the mighty Lightsworns. And to put some last icing on the cake, there is a still a Lightsworn Synchro monster whose effect and stats have yet to be announced! Depending on those traits, Lightsworns could very well be a serious contenter for the top spot in the May 2014 Meta.

Ghostricks are still a new deck, and have even yet to be released in the TCG. From what little experience I have with them, they are a deck composed of mostly small, weak-attacked monsters that rely on their effects to stop attacks and continually re-supply each other with new monsters. To me, they don't seem very capable of holding a high spot in the Meta, even in the foreseeable future with their new support card. The new support card "Ghostrick Mary" is a monster that allows you to Special Summon a monster from your deck at any time when you take damage. This monster, though still unreleased even in the OCG, is considered one of the best in the deck. I can tell this is exactly what Ghostricks needed, but the deck still needs much more if it wants to compete with other future Meta decks.

It was also announced there would be support for some other archetypes, but I don't think those are good or important enough to be mentioned. Overall, we have several things to look forward to in the coming weeks, which I will detail then, and I will also try to squeeze in an extra article to catch up with the six I should have by now.

To be honest, there are times when I wish I had decided to do this blog about Anime, and not Yu-Gi-Oh! Not because I don't like it or have gotten bored of it, but I'm just in an Anime mood recently, and it feels like a shame I can't express my current desires. But for the long term, Yu-Gi-Oh! was the way to go, and it's definitely something that is constantly changing and entertaining -- Whereas I think just re-telling an anime or reviewing it might have been boring to write and even more boring for someone to read. There's a reason for everything I guess. Next week I will be detailing Yu-Gi-Oh! products that are nearing their release date, and give my thoughts on them.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Meta Analysis Week 4

By Froylan Carreno

It's official. The meta has reverted to it's unbalanced state prior to the ban list. Almost everyone on DN are using the decks that are far too overpowered to exist in the game, such as the newly-revived Dragon Rulers, Mermails, and now tons of other annoying decks people are using to counter those exact decks -- Decks that have long been loathed by the Yu-Gi-Oh community far before Dragon Rulers, those being Final Countown, Burn, and Exodia decks. With few decks being able to compete against the competitive decks, people have resorted to using "the cheap decks" to more effectively beat them in a duel.

"Final Countdown" is a card that, once activated, you will instantly win the duel within 20 turns, regardless of Life Points! Until those 20 turns are up, the user will continually stall with cards like Battle Fader and Threatening Roar -- Cards that are incredibly hard to stop, even for the Meta decks. The next deck on this list of "cheap" decks is Burn, a type of deck that relies on inflicting Effect Damage to your opponent, instead of Battle Damage. What makes facing this deck incredibly frustrating is how the opponent would always set 4 to 5 cards in the back row, pass turn to you, and then explode with their face-downs, then proceed to wreck you -- While at the same time protecting themselves with similar cards used in a Final Countdown deck. Before you know it, your Life Points are at 0, and all your attempts to reduce your opponents Life Points become irrelevant. The next deck, however, is probably the most infamous deck of all time, and undoubtedly one of the most despised.

Everybody knows when they're dueling an Exodia deck player, almost as soon as the opponent plays their first card. And when one finds out they're playing an Exodia player, they proceed to point an imaginary gun to their head, especially me. To win with an Exodia deck, you have to draw all 5 "pieces" or cards of Exodia in your hand, which with the right amount of cards and luck, you can literally accomplish without even giving your opponent a chance to play. In real life, no one ever wants to duel an Exodia player, even friends will try everything to avoid playing you. On DN, most people would instantly quit when they quickly realize you're playing such a taboo deck. But all these decks, though immensely infuriating, were mostly brought back into light when it becomes apparent any other deck(s) would have a hard time fighting a new age Meta deck.  

Certain aspects of the Yu-Gi-Oh game definitely need to be addressed, but those points are for another day. These decks are only being used more often because stronger, meta decks are becoming more prevalent. I myself am testing a Noble Knight deck -- A deck I am actually enjoying, for the simple fact that I came up with the full deck list myself with no outside sources, and it seems to win somewhat often! Though next week I will probably be using another deck, I feel Noble Knights will still stay one of my favorites.

Yu-Gi-Oh Meta Analysis Week 3

By Froylan Carreno

Things have started slowing down since the ban list was revealed on September 1st. Everyone is getting settled in to the new format like a comfy bed. No one is really upset about it anymore -- Except those few non-conformists who live only to get angry about something. I have personally not been dueling in real life often this week, as much as I have been on DN. There's an ever increasing number of duelists using Plant and Dragunity Rulers, which could mean bad news for Dragon Rulers in general come the next ban list in January -- And since Dragon Rulers are consistently topping small tournaments, more people are starting to resume the nasty habit of "netdecking", which is essentially stealing a complete deck profile from the internet, creating it in real life, and using it as your own. It's the Yu-Gi-Oh equivalent of plagiarism.

Netdecking is frowned upon, but most players think they can avoid the discrimination by simply taking out a card two and replacing them with others. I personally abhor netdeckers because it rips any creative opportunity in a deck. However there is a difference between straight netdecking, and looking up a deck video to see what basic cards you need to put in your deck to make it function. I personally have only netdecked once or twice, and only to try out a deck on DN to see if it was worthwhile to make in real life.

Lately on DN, I have been testing out a Blackwing deck which has yielded mostly positive results -- And enough to make me want to make the deck in real life. I already have about half the cards you need to make the deck, and the rest would not be too expensive to obtain. The deck is powerful now since it was actually aided by the ban list, in which it returned to 3 one of the decks most potent Spell Card, Black Whirlwind. This Spell Card allows you to search a "Blackwing" monster from your deck to your hand when you Normal Summon a "Blackwing" monster. It's a good card but still not nearly as good as other similiar cards like "Wind-Up Factory." Just now, I lost to a "Lightsworn" deck vs. my Blackwings on DN, and though he basically destroyed me I did learn some areas in my deck that could use some improvement. Next week, I will be more or less focusing on my pet peeves in the game, and of course, any new news that might arise.

Yu-Gi-Oh TCG Meta Analysis Week 2

By Froylan Carreno

A plethora of things have unfolded since the new ban list was enforced one week ago. Prices for particular cards have increased or decreased, certain decks are now becoming the new "meta", and duelists in general are starting to get used to the new changes. Duelists online and duelists in real life are all interacting with each other trying to figure out exactly how the meta will shape up to be in the next few months. Me, personally, I see a great meta compared to last one, where only the decks that were worth more than 1000$ could hope to compete in the meta. It was an unfortunate time in the game's history, but this format might just make up for it.

I have been online on Ebay and Dueling Network, just trying to discover any obvious changes in prices or in the meta. Since Dragon Rulers and Mermails topped YCS Toronto last week, almost every card in each respective deck has increased in price. In particular, the cards "Aqua Spirit" and "Dragon Ravine." "The monster card "Aqua Spirit" went from being a 50 cents card to a solid 5$ card almost overnight -- a feat almost unheard of, but not unbelievable since similar situations have happened before. The reason for it's spike in price is likely because it has only been released in older card sets that are extremely hard to find for down-to-earth prices. Also, it is a key part in a powerful combo within the Mermail deck, that allows you to essentially set up a field of monsters that can survive some of the most powerful Spell Cards, such as Dark Hole and Soul Taker. It also works well in conjunction with "Tidal, Dragon Ruler of Waterfalls," which when it's banished to summon "Aqua Spirit," "Tidal's" effect kicks in to let you search another "Tidal, Dragon Ruler of Waterfalls." I have personally tested the deck and I can see why it managed to earn 2nd place at an official tournament.

Another card that was previously under the radar is "Dragon Ravine," which has also gone up in price greatly since YCS Toronto. "Dragon Ravine" sees play in the Dragon Ruler deck, and helps it have much more consistency. "Dragon Ravine" sends a card from your hand to Graveyard (usually a Dragon Ruler) to send another Dragon-Type monster from your deck to the Graveyard (usually another Dragon Ruler). A "Dragon Ruler" monster card does not care if it's in the grave, since it can always revive itself by banishing 2 monsters with it's Type, and if you banished a "Dragon Ruler" monster, you can search yet another "Dragon Ruler" monster. This all helps in thinning the deck and putting "Dragon Ruler" monsters in the Graveyard, which all set up explosive plays with Xyz monsters, and gives you a higher chance of drawing useful Spell Cards. Overall, I didn't even have to test the deck to see how powerful it was. I won almost every duel with no hassle or problem. But at times it would be hard to start my explosive plays if I could not draw any of my power cards, such as "Gold Sarcophagus" and "Sacred Sword of Seven Stars."

On DN, rogue decks that did not top Toronto are still seeing play, but to a much lesser extent. Most people have realized that Mermails and Dragon Rulers are the easy way to win, and have resorted to using those decks, especially since they can use them for free online. In real life, most of my duelist friends have not swapped their decks for another because of the ban list or because of Toronto. Most just adapted to the list, or some have not even updated their decks to fit the ban list. The main reason for not switching to a top-tier deck however, is because of the ridiculous cost of making such a deck. Some of the best and most needed cards could run you up to 100$ (just one card). And at this point in the meta, it does not seem the wiser to upgrade to a meta deck, for the simple fact that many decks can now have an actual chance of winning a duel. Chances are next week everyone will know what decks to watch out for, what decks were wrecked by the ban list, and what to expect within the coming weeks.

Yu-Gi-Oh Current Meta and Game Analysis: Week 1

By Froylan Carreno

     In a world filled with superfluous amounts of card games, one managed to catch my eye at a very young age. The Yu-Gi-Oh Trading Card Game was fast paced, popular, easy to play but hard to master, and many other characteristics that managed to keep me engaged and invested in it to this day. Perhaps the one aspect that appealed to me most about Yu-Gi-Oh was how often and quickly the meta (short for metagame) could drastically change. For this reason, most of these weekly blogs will cover the ever changing game of Yu-Gi-Oh and will highlight any noteworthy Yu-Gi-Oh news, such as recent tournament winning decks and card reprints that could strongly shift the course of the game. I will also try to find a balance between speaking in the game's jargon and in more common terms most people can understand or relate to.

    In the past few days, many important events have transpired in the Yu-Gi-Oh game, greatly affecting every player across the world that may even cause permanent ripples in the meta. The biggest of which is the new card Ban List, which is essentially an official list of cards that may not be used or used in certain quantities. Previously, a ban list emerged every 6 months, one in early September, and one in early March. Now Konami, the official owner of the Yu-Gi-Oh card game, proclaimed a new ban list would emerge every 4 months now opposed to the original 6 months. And if that was not enough, the new ban list banned some incredibly potent Spell and Trap cards, such as Heavy Storm, Monster Reborn, and Solemn Judgment -- All cards that almost every deck ran, but were previously only allowed one copy of before September 1st of this year. To describe the magnitude and impact of this ban list, I have an account on a free website called Dueling Network that allows me to make limitless amounts of Yu-Gi-Oh decks. I had over 50 decks created on the site, and to allow legal play with most of them, I had to go back and painstakingly edit the decks to remove any banned cards and insert new cards to replace them. I have yet to insert new cards, as just thoughtlessly taking cards out took almost an hour, and thinking of what cards to "tech" in as replacements could take an entire night. Some decks had so many cards removed, that I thought it easier to outright delete it to save the effort of trying to repair a deck devastated by the ban list.  Rest easy my Macro Rabbit and Elemental Hero Beat decks.

     However, the ban list is actually a very important balancing factor to the game that most players appreciate world wide. It neuters decks that are too powerful in the metagame that are always seen destroying the competition in official tournaments, or cards that generate too much advantage for little cost, such as Gateway of the Six and Card Destruction. Until today, one of the top decks of last format, Dragon Rulers, was thought to have been hit so hard by the ban list, it would be unplayable this format. However, it was revealed that it had indeed just topped a YCS tournament in Toronto, earning 1st place overall. This was a personal shocker to me, even though I had seen the new and improved version of Dragon Rulers on Dueling Network several times. Even more surprising to me was seeing another deck destroyed by the ban list, Mermails, nabbing 2nd place. The results of this Yu-Gi-Oh Championship Series (YCS for short), will likely be a hot topic tomorrow at Victor Valley College, including topics about other decks that managed to reach spots in the top 32. Over the course of the week, I will see how the results of this tournament will impact the game, to see if more people will use winning decks, or if for once people will try to be original and use lesser used decks, such as Blackwings and Gladiator Beasts. In addition, I will be on DN (Dueling Network) and seeing what decks are commonly being played and will note any sudden spikes in the metagame. Yu-Gi-Oh truly changes by the week, this week more than ever, but I am looking forward to the calm after the storm for a while. I don't believe even Konami themselves know where this game is headed, for better or for worse.