Vala-Infernity: Kicking the meta in the face

"Infernity Archfiend"

Hello, ladies and gentlemen. After a deep analysis of the YCS Charlotte results and taking a deeper look into the metagame, I thought it would be a good time to update my Infernity deck accordingly.

For those of you who did not see the previous post, it can be found here.

Here is a quick recap of my previous build.

Previous Deck List

My build is and was pretty stable. It would take a lot to shake its foundations once the field was set up. I did encounter a few problems, however. First and foremost, I finally got to play against and with Samurais (albeit not with Infernity). From these matches, I found that the following cards could be problematic for me.

• Gateway of the Six: This was fairly obvious from the get go. The capacity to plus exponentially is frightening. Fortunately, the card is now limited. I did need counters for its inevitable plays though.
• Six Samurai United: This is pivotal in Samurais. Without it, their well of advantage ceases to expand. Though it is not something I would normally do, I decided I needed a counter for this card.
• Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En: This is the source of my trouble against Samurais. The ability for them to go unstopped is a frightening prospect, more so when backed by Magatama Musakani.

I also got the opportunity to tinker with Gravekeeper's. From playing them, the following cards appear to be trouble for me.

• Necrovalley: Once again, this is fairly obvious and is something I took into consideration quite some time ago. It shuts down the Graveyard. Clearly, this is a problem because my deck runs 11 or so cards which will be shut down by Valley alone.
• Royal Oppression: This is more of a problem for me than Solemn Warning. Fortunately, I have counters for both.
• Gravekeeper's Descendant: I'm sure most of you know this can cause a lot of damage. Left unchecked, it could become problematic, potentially draining my assets. Fortunately, Barrier +1s against Descendant and it becomes easy to walk over once Valley is gone.

After thinking about it, it became apparent that continuous spells and traps were the cause of most of my grief. I also noticed Traps (save for the obvious ones) were becoming more and more scarce by the minute. This is what I came up with.

New Deck List

My changes are almost unnoticeable. This is intentional as I didn't want to tamper with the ebb and flow of the deck. I dropped Trap Stun, something I was reluctant to do. It's amazing against lower tier decks. However, with most threats coming from the upper tier decks, it would be foolish to include them any further. What I included instead was a second Mystical Space Typhoon and a Dust Tornado.

Whilst the change may seem simple on the exterior, the amount of decision making that went behind it is mind boggling. What the change has managed to do is ease the danger of 5 of the 6 most dangerous meta cards to this deck. Whilst I have yet to find a practical main deck solution to Shi En, I have ridden GKs of most of their power and Samurais of their primary engine.

I am now siding the two other Trap Stuns. As aforementioned, it excels against any lower tier decks, totally ridding them of most of their defenses. Hence why I keep it at my disposal.

Whilst making the changes, I noticed how tight for space I am. In an ideal world, I'd like to make room for another Solemn Warning and a second Dust Tornado. Space constraints currently prohibit me from doing so. Current candidates for loss are Archfiend's Roar (despite how phenomenal it is) and Book of Moon (once again, the card is amazing). This will take a lot of thinking.

I hope you enjoyed this post and I hope I went into enough depth on this topic. Please leave any comments or questions below.

~Valafar123

It is by will alone that I set my mind in motion...

Oh, Dune.

Anyway: this post is going to be all about my T.G. build. I will be presenting my deck list, then giving reasons for certain card choices and, of course, a summary of how it's played. If you wish to play against this deck, leave a comment below and I will get back to you.

Monsters [18]
[3] T.G. Cyber Magician
[3] T.G. Striker
[3] T.G. Rush Rhino
[3] T.G. Werewolf
[2] Card Trooper
[2] Junk Synchron
[1] Doppelwarrior
[1] Sangan

Spells [13]
[2] The Warrior Returning Alive
[1] Reinforcement of the Army
[1] Book of Moon
[2] Miracle Synchro Fusion
[2] MST
[1] Dark Hole
[1] Giant Trunade
[1] Monster Reborn
[2] Pot of Avarice

Traps [9]
[2] TG1-EM1
[3] Reinforce Truth
[2] Solemn Warning
[1] Solemn Judgement
[1] Torrential Tribute

Extra Deck [15]
[2] Supreme Arcanite Magician
[1] Formula Synchron
[2] T.G. Wonder Magician
[1] T.G. Gladiator
[2] T.G. Hyper Librarian
[1] Brionac
[1] Black Rose Dragon
[1] Stardust Dragon
[1] Scrap Dragon
[1] Trishula
[1] Shooting Star Dragon
[1] Shooting Quasar Dragon

This was the build I used in a quick duel with Valafar earlier. There's actually quite a few things that I'd change, even from this build: for one, Kinka-Byo, which is great for Formula Synchro summons. Probably drop the Card Troopers, since they were experimental anyway. Maybe a Glow-up Bulb as well... probably over Sangan.

Serious note: anyone who thinks T.G. are akin to Karakuri in their Synchro spam will lose with T.G. cards. They are... well, I explained it in the term "pseudo-Gadgets". Which is a fitting comparison, for they are: they retain advantage and maximise it. Take, for example, my inclusion of Miracle Synchro Fusion and Supreme Arcanite Magician; very easy to summon (T.G. Cyber Magician + T.G. Wonder Magician), and it'll never really cost you advantage.

For if you set Miracle Synchro Fusion and your opponent detonates it with, say, MST, it's a +1 for you. -1 from the Spell card's destruction, +1 from the draw and you -1 your opponent because they just used MST. If you bring out Supreme Arcanite Magician, he just either kicks back with his 3400ATK, blows up one of your opponent's cards or lets you draw.

TG1-EM1 is my favourite of the T.G. support. It, basically, amounts to a +0 with some handy side-effects. Basically, you nick your opponent's monster and give them one of your T.G. monsters. Then, you destroy the T.G. monster up with your shiny new monster, and in the End Phase, search out a T.G. monster of your choice. It's very potent: in my testings, I've often grabbed boss monsters from my opponent and trolled them with it.

Shooting Quasar Dragon is obvious. You can conceivably form it quite easily and with decent advantage: Formula Synchron + T.G. Hyper Librarian + T.G. Hyper Librarian. And getting an awesome boss monster is just icing on the cake.

As for plays... I dunno, I think I'd need to demonstrate them in duels, since I'm notoriously bad at remembering stuff like that. That's all for now, expect an update in the near future!

~AA

Hyperion Angels

"Master Hyperion"

Hello, ladies and gentlemen. I wish to apologize if my previous post was not up to scratch. I will refrain from making such posts again. Moving on, today I want to talk about Hyperion Angels, a deck that has seen a lot of play in the OCG. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the deck, it is essentially a hyper aggressive Fairy deck that uses RFP as an engine.

Main Deck Layout

Essentially, what I have done is taken a generic OCG build and made alterations in order for it to be more TCG friendly. As you can see, I favor The Sanctuary in the Sky in this Hyperion build. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the effects of the new cards, I have provided links below.

Master Hyperion
The Agent of Mystery - Earth
The Agent of Wonder - Jupiter (alt. The Agent of Miracles - Jupiter)
Treasure of Heaven (alt. Cards from the Sky)
Solemn Punishment (alt. Divine Punishment)

As you can see, the deck is very powerful. It's very aggressive and takes little time to set up.

My main reason for going with TSitS is to gain access to Divine Punishment. It also allows Earth and Hyperion to gain additional effects, which is always nice. I also oppose the idea of maining Herald of Orange Light. HoOL is a typically OCG meta card and will not be effective in the TCG.

I dropped the Venus count to 2 and boosted the Jupiter count to 2. It balances out better that way, at least that's the theory. I still like 3 copies of Mystical Shine Ball. It creates non-tuners for Earth and feeds Master Hyperion. It's a plus one either way. Any dead copies can always be discarded for the cost of Treasure of Heaven.

I main Mirror Force and Torrential Tribute. With Honest limited, I think it's necessary to do so. I'm not using Decree or Trap Stun because I am maining Solemn Punishment. As an Infernity player, I always get giddy at the idea of maining six Solemns.

The extra deck is very spacious, and is only maining Ancient Sacred Wyvern and Avenging Knight Parshath in addition to the typical synchros, so I didn't bother posting it.

I will be testing this build starting from Monday, and I will post the results as I go along.

A few other things I may test:

• Burial from a Different Dimension
• Non-Sanctuary builds
• Royal Decree
• Three copies of Venus
• The White Elephant's Gift
• Trade-In
• Pot of Avarice
• Effect Veiler
• Cyber Dragon

For those of you who prefer the old layout, here it is.

Monsters [18]
[3] Master Hyperion
[3] The Agent of Mystery - Earth
[2] The Agent of Wonder - Jupiter
[2] The Agent of Creation - Venus
[2] Archlord Kristya
[1] Honest
[2] Zeradias, Herald of Heaven
[3] Mystical Shine Ball

Spells [13]
[3] Pot of Duality
[3] Treasure of Heaven
[2] The Sanctuary in the Sky
[2] Mystical Space Typhoon
[1] Monster Reborn
[1] Dark Hole
[1] Giant Trunade

Traps [9]
[3] Solemn Punishment
[2] Solemn Warning
[1] Solemn Judgment
[1] Mirror Force
[1] Torrential Tribute
[1] Return from the Different Dimension

That's all for this post. Let me know what you think in the comments section below.

~Valafar123

Why Infernity wasn't successful at Charlotte and the solution

"Infernity Archfiend"

Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Today I'm going to 'thrill' you with yet another of my Infernity posts. Now, towards the start of this format, many Infernity players were optimistic. However, I was not one of them. As you can tell by the recent results at YCS Charlotte, what few Infernity players that were there were shot down.

There are a few reasons for this. First and foremost, Infernity has a tiny player base; not many people are using the deck anymore. Additionally, the skill levels of what few players we have is... sub par to say the least. If you've seen the quality of players using this deck, or if you've read the hideous Infernity thread on Pojo, you will learn quickly how incompetent many Infernity users are.

Forgive me for that short rant. Moving on, I don't think Infernity players were meta prepared. In retrospect, should I have gone to such an event, I would have made some major changes to the main deck. With continuous cards running rampant in the current meta, I would like to have maxed out on MST and mained a Dust Tornado or two. The most likely candidate for being dropped is either my beloved Archfiend's Roar, the Book of Moon which is becoming more ineffective every day, Trap Stun or Infernity Break. MST and DT would have made life so much easier for Infernity players.

Those two main deck choices would have quite happily dealt with GKs and Dragunity, and would have eased the burden of the Samurai match up. Only testing will tell.

~Valafar123

YCS Charlotte

This weekend is the first YCS after the Ban List and will set the stage for the format to come. Let us take a look at the decks and feature matches we see today. With a total of 1048 duelists here today, we should be seeing some interesting decks and some awesome tech.

The first deck profile of the day is Frazier Smith's Dragunity deck. You may know Smith from his YCS Atlanta win with Gravekeeper's. He is here today with hopes of striking oil twice. The deck list will be posted after the event.

The Round 1 Feature Match is Frazier Smith's Dragunities Vs. Josh Smith's Gravekeeper's. How perfect is it that Frazier is up against the deck he piloted to victory at Atlanta. This battle of Field Spells is what will draw the deck to victory. You can read all about this duel here.

And we have a second Round 1 Feature Match, Mike Papalazaros' Gravekeeper's Vs. Jeff Jones' Nordics. Jones will have a tough time working around Necrovalley, but he is a seasoned duelist and this should prove to be an excellent duel. You can read all about this duel here.

Jeff Jones is a two time winner of the YCS tournaments and has gotten himself a deck profile with his Nordics. We will be showing the decklist after the event is done.

Round 2 has come and the Feature Match is Robbie Stargel's Dragunities vs. Manny Vargas' Chaos Plants. Stargel's Dragunities are unlike any other here today, because he runs Stardust Dragon/Assault Mode. Dragunities are well known for being able to produce Level 8s on the first turn and Stargel is looking to capitalize on a first turn Stardust with Assault Mode Activate. Great tech in my opinion. And we have Vargas running Chaos Plants with a playset of the newly Unlimited Chaos Sorcerer. This could spell trouble for Stargel's Stardusts, as they are unable to prevent Exile. You can read this whole feature match here.

A second Feature Match for Round 2, this one holds Francisco Brown's Fableds vs. Paul Cooper's Empty Jar deck. Brown's Fabled deck runs a subtle Plant engine and will prove interesting. You can read the whole Feature Match here.

Round 3's Feature Match is Kay Shim's Scraps vs. Christopher Reitz's Gravekeeper's. Both duelists are undefeated as of this round, this match will change that. Shim will have a lot of difficulty playing around Necrovalley, but it should prove a fierce duel. You can read the whole Feature Match here.

Round 4's Feature Match is Jerry Wang's Miracle Geminis vs. Dakota Vandawalker's Six Samurais. Miracle Geminis have guided Wang to Table 6 in this round, but Vandawalker is no chump fourteen-year old. He is one of the top ranked Six Samurai players at this YCS. You can read this entire Feature Match here.

As Round 5 comes along we are getting a Top Table update. The top 10 tables are all undefeated players heading into their fifth round. Gravekeepers are doing well despite the expectations of many critics. We see Jeff Jones at Table 5 with Nordics. Thomas Luebke at Table 3 with Karakuri Machina Plants an interesting, but new choice in deck. Francisco Rome is at Table 3 as well with Black Salvo Chaos, the newly Unlimited Chaos Sorcerer is having a lot of play here today. Joshua Dickerson is the only Gladiator Beast player at a Top Table currently. You can view the entire listing here.

Round 5's Top Table is the place for the Feature Match with Nicky Lacaille's Fish vs Marc Hahn's Gravekeeper's. Both decks as I said are undefeated, but this shall be the downfall of one. You can view the whole Feature Match here.

Round 6's Feature Match is Jonathan Barber's Flamvellsworn deck vs. Marquis Johnson's Gravekeeper's. Both decks have a undefeated 5-0 record and the Gravekeeper's have the advantage in this match up. You can read the whole Match here.

Round 7 shows us our first view of Blackwings today facing off against Six Samurai. Courtney Waller's Vayu Turbo build vs. Kuanchang Lai's Six Samurai. Both duelists are 5-1, giving the winner of this match a strong shot at Day 2. You can read the whole match here.

Table 4 is hosting Round 8's Feature Match with Sean Coovert's Six Samurais vs. Anthony Alvarado's Dragunities. Alvarado, winner of a 2005 Shonen Jump that was hosted in Charlotte, is undefeated, save for 1 Draw. While Coovert is going in undefeated into this match up. You can read the entire report here.

Round 9 is a Mirror Feature, facing Fili Luna's and Billy Brake's X-Saber decks. Both duelists are 7-1 coming into this crucial round. Let's see who will break in this match. You can see the whole match here.

We have another Deck Profile here. This one is Jonathan Barber's Flamvellsworn deck. We saw him win the Round 6 Feature Match and he went 8-1 in Day 1. You can see the whole profile here.

(We will have the deck list up after the event is finished)

Round 10's Feature is Phillip Pena's Six Samurai vs Jacob Haar's Plant Synchro deck. Haar's deck took a hit with the banlist, losing 1 of both Dandylion and Debris Dragon, but both players are 8-1 coming into this round. You can read the whole report here.

Round 11's Feature is Kevin Silva's Dragunities vs. Ramon Mera's Blackwings. Mera's teching in 2 Spirit Reaper into his Blackwings and gave the deck the nickname Spirit Wings. Both players have an 8-2 record this round and we can be expecting a lot of Icarus Attacks flying around. You can view the whole match here.

Finally we are to the Top 32. The Feature Match of this round is Miracle Gemini duelist Jerry Wang vs. Thomas Luebke's Karakuri Machina Plants. Two great duelists with two exceptional decks. You can read the whole match here.

We have the Top 16 match list and it is a interesting bunch. We have 2 X-Sabers, 2 Six Samurai, 4 Gravekeeper's, 1 Empty Jar!, 1 Chaos Plants!, 1 Flamvellsworn, 1 Dragunities, 2 Fish, and 1 Karakuri Machina Plant. Paul Cooper's Empty Jar deck is a real surprise here. I personally

am rooting for the Plant deck (pun intended). Barber's Flamvellsworn deck is doing incredibly well and I wouldn't be surprised to see it in the Top 4. This is turning out to be an incredible YCS.

The first match of the Top 16 that is finished is the X-Sabers vs Six Samurai match. Nizar Sarhan and his Six Samurai triumph over Stephen Silverman's X-Sabers. This leaves only 1 X-Saber deck in the tournament.

The rest of the Top 16 Results are in! We have Paul Cooper's Empty Jar deck beating out Glenn Lightfoot's Gravekeeper's. Elijah Gersten's Gravekeeper's beating Anthony Dignoti's Chaos Plants. Sean Coovert's Six Samurais defeating Justin Wong's Gravekeeper's. Jonathan Barber moves to the Top 8 with his Flamvellsworn defeating Deryck Rothenberger's Miracle Gemini. Nicky Lacaille's Fish pushing Frazier Smith's Dragunity deck out, leaving no Dragunity decks in the Top. Calvin Tahan's Fish defeat Thomas Luebke's Karakuri Machina Plants. and Billy Brake's X-Sabers pushing forward against Camden Keener's Gravekeeper's.

The Quarterfinals matchups are Gersten's Gravekeeper's vs Coovert's Six Samurai, Barber's Flamvellsworn vs Lacaille's Fish, Cooper's Empty Jar vs Sarhan's Six Samurai, and Brake's X-Sabers vs Tahan's Fish. Interesting to say the least.

The first three matches of the Quarterfinals are finished and we have Coovert's Six Samurai beating Gersten's Gravekeeper's, Cooper's Empty Jar beating Sarhan's Six Samurai, and Brake's X-Saber beating Tahan's Fish. This leaves us with Barber vs Lacaille in the last match to finish.

The final match of the Quarterfinals has finished! Nicky Lacaille and his Fish have defeated Jonathan Barber's Flamvellsworn. This puts Six Samurai, Fish, Empty Jar, and X-Sabers in the Semifinals.

The Semifinals are finished with Coovert's Samurai beating Cooper's Empty Jar and Lacaille's Fish beating Brake's X-Sabers in a fantastic game that had to be seen to be believed. The Finals are set, it is Fish versus Six Samurai.

And this YCS comes to a close. Sean Coovert wins against Lacaille's Fish. This makes Sean Coovert and his Six Samurai the winners of the Charlotte YCS. Congratulations to Coovert and everyone who played this weekend.

-Lonefire

Vala-Infernity: The topdeckiest deck around

"Infernity Archfiend"

Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Today I shall be presenting you with the product of countless hours of work and the depletion of my wallet. I will be trying out a new layout for decks and I most certainly hope you enjoy it. I got the idea for the layout from this blog: http://btmwanarchy.blogspot.com/ . Please leave any suggestions in the comments section, I'm keeping my eye out for new ideas that haven't been tested before.

Deck Overview

Main Deck

Extra Deck

Hopefully you will be able to make out my deck from that scale. As you can see, I run 15 monsters. For those who are unfamiliar with Infernity, 15 is considered somewhat excessive. I shall now proceed to analyze each section in depth.

Monsters

Monster Line Up

This is my monster line up. As you can see, I favor the Avenger variant. From testing, it is a lot more consistent, versatile and powerful. My preference is also for 3 copies of Infernity Mirage. Whilst some people may argue that 3 copies can lead to dead draws, I'm inclined to disagree. 80% of the time Mirage is active, and let us not forget that Mirage has uses outside of mindless OTK plays. It can set up strategic support, form walls and launch a flurry of synchros out of the blue. If one is unfortunate enough to draw double or, worst case scenario, triple, then they can make Grepher and Inferno active.

I have my build set to what I like to call intermittent synchroing, i.e. making non-major synchro plays. This can be something simple like making a Catastor or Stygian and burning through a few of my opponent's resources. It's good to force out Solemn Warnings early so I am unimpeded later on in the match.

Spells

Spell Line Up

I have received criticism about maining RotA. Some people say that it leads to dead draws, however, this is simply not the case. Baring in mind this deck possesses no draw power, the probability of me drawing Grepher and Knight before RotA is low. And even if it does happen, I can make Inferno and Brio live. The ability to become Dark Grepher or Armageddon Knight is why I'm a huge fan of RotA. It's rather versatile.

With its newly limited status, I'm re-experiencing "single copy syndrome" with BoM. BoM is amazing in 2s, however, a single copy simply isn't reliable enough to fulfill its role consistently. It will most likely become a Solemn Warning in the next few months.

I only like maining 1 MST. Its only real use in this deck is to rid the field of annoying Royal Oppressions, Necrovalleys and other frustrating continuous spells and traps. Blind firing into your opponents back row is terribly inefficient and has a low success rate, hence only 1 copy.

Traps

Trap Line Up

This is my trap line up. I main the standard 3 Barriers and 1 Break. Barrier is simply phenomenal and I cannot urge enough how important it is to main it in threes. I'm only maining 1 Solemn Warning due to space constraints, however, once a slot is free, I will most certainly add in a second copy. 3 Barriers, 2 Solemn Warnings and a Solemn Judgment render most decks totally useless. I'm quite a big fan of Warning at the moment (who isn't?). As mentioned in my previous post, TRA in the extra deck works very well in tandem with it, they both mitigate one another's weaknesses and can be very powerful. Solemn Warning helps fix a lot of the deck's consistency issues by providing unconditional negation.

My preference is for two copies of Infernity Inferno as opposed to three. In a previous post, I mentioned how much I loathe Inferno. However, from testing without it, I found that the deck became too slow without it, and it removed the OTK as a consistent option. I don't like drawing it too often, hence only two copies.

Call of the Haunted is a given in any Infernity deck, however, I felt I saw it far too little. Instead of omitting it, I decided to pair it up with a very old card; Archfiend's Roar. Essentially acting as a tailor made CotH, Roar has proven itself to be an asset which will not leave my trap line up for a very long time.

I'm still sticking by BTH. In my personal opinion, I believe that most (if not all) control decks should be maining this in 2s. It's not as good as it used to be, but the ability to ruin combo plays, cripple early summons and waste through my opponent's resources is far too good to pass up.

Trap Stun is still a good contender in my opinion. Whilst most of the meta has become scarce of traps, Trap Stun is still excellent against opposing control decks, or any lower tier deck for that matter. As I said before, I'm not a huge fan of blind firing with MST.

Extra Deck

Extra Deck Line Up

Most of my Extra Deck is standard, but I will cover a few things.

First and foremost, the deck is devoid of any level 7 synchros. The only possible way to summon them is by bridge synchroing, but in most cases, it's better to simply hold on to your synchro monster and preserve advantage when possible.

Some people have reduced their Hundred-Eyes Dragon count to 2, but I find myself using all three too often to reduce the quantity that I use. It's also very good outside of OTK plays, allowing for very powerful plays to become possible in tandem with either Infernity Mirage or Infernity Necromancer.

The ability for Dark End Dragon to bypass both Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En and Musakani Magatama is enough of a reason to grant it a slot in the Extra Deck. This card is terrific against Samurais. Not much else to say about it.

Colossal Fighter still sees some use even with Honest and Kalut limited. It can become pretty beefy against sams and can do some real damage against Scrap Dragon and Dark Armed Dragon users. It also has a mini-OTK with Armory Arm, which I have used once. It's still nice to have that OTK as an easy, last resort option.

Conclusion


Hoorah, I finally reached a conclusion. I hope you enjoyed that post. Please leave a comment and tell me if you like the new lay out style I'm testing.

For those of you who aren't a huge fan of this layout, here is the deck in a more standard layout.

Monsters [15]
[3] Infernity Archfiend
[3] Infernity Mirage
[3] Infernity Necromancer
[2] Infernity Avenger
[1] Dark Grepher
[1] Armageddon Knight
[1] Plaguespreader Zombie
[1] Stygian Street Patrol

Spells [9]
[1] Infernity Launcher
[1] Reinforcement of the Army
[1] Monster Reborn
[1] Foolish Burial
[1] Book of Moon
[1] One for One
[1] Mystical Space Typhoon
[1] Giant Trunade
[1] Dark Hole

Traps [16]
[2] Infernity Inferno
[1] Infernity Break
[3] Infernity Barrier
[1] Archfiend's Roar
[2] Trap Stun
[1] Torrential Tribute
[1] Call of the Haunted
[2] Bottomless Trap Hole
[1] Mirror Force
[1] Solemn Judgment
[1] Solemn Warning

Extra Deck [15]
[1] Mist Wurm
[3] Hundred-Eyes Dragon
[1] Infernity Doom Dragon
[1] Stardust Dragon
[1] Colossal Fighter
[1] Scrap Dragon
[1] Dark End Dragon
[1] Thought Ruler Archfiend
[1] Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
[1] Ally of Justice Catastor
[1] Stygian Sergeants
[1] Magical Android
[1] Armory Arm

Wishing you all the best,

~Valafar123

Thought Ruler Archfiend - Viable?

"Thought Ruler Archfiend"

Hello, ladies and gentlemen, today I will be talking about a card that has seen very little play in the past few formats. If you haven't guessed what it is, it's "Thought Ruler Archfiend", or TRA for short.

For those of you who don't know what it is or what it does, I have provided the effect below.

Thought Ruler Archfiend
✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪ DARK
Psychic / Synchro / Effect
1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuners
When this card destroys a monster by battle and sends it to the Graveyard, gain Life Points equal to that monster's original ATK. You can pay 1000 Life Points to negate the activation of a Spell or Trap Card that targets 1 Psychic-Type monster, and destroy it.
ATK 2700 DEF 2300

Previously, TRA had a terrible habit of being stolen by Goyo Guardian. The March 2011 ban list took care of that, considerably boosting TRA's playability. With that threat gone, the only remaining threats to this card are Solemn Warning and Thunder King Rai-Oh.

Most people find this card somewhat inadequate, however, there are many reasons to use this card once more. First and foremost, this card is pretty hard to stop, almost more so than the infamous Stardust Dragon. Full immunity to Compulsory Evacuation Device, Forbidden Lance and Enemy Controller is nothing to ignore, especially considering Book of Moon is now limited.

In addition, this card's life boosting effect is massive. Normally, life point increase is trivial, but when you're gaining 2000 or more life points at a time, it quickly makes you very hard to kill. Additionally, it helps late game. Most of the threats to this card will most likely have been used against its comrades, allowing this card to wreak a path of destruction unopposed. It will quickly restore your life and make your Solemn Warnings active again. This can most certainly spell disaster for your opponent and assure you victory.

I'm sure you can see why I like this card so much. In tandem with Solemn Warning, a card that is prolific in today's metagame, this card becomes a very powerful force.

Speaking of metagame, Psychics will most likely surge in use with the advent of Extreme Victory, which adds to this card's potency. Having a field of very hard to kill monsters backed by a back row of very powerful spell and trap cards seems like a very hard match up to me. That said, we will need to see how successful Psychics will be before we start to get ahead of ourselves.

Have fun trying this guy out again. You may find yourself pleasantly surprised.

~Valafar123

Estuans interius, ira vehementi

Oh, look. A reference nobody has ever done.

To clarify, this article will be about "Kyūkyoku Jikaishin Sefiron", or, has it has been tentatively named, "Ultimate Temporal Machine God Sephiron". While you can read it's effect and statistics here, let me save you the effort.

Level 10 LIGHT Fairy4000ATK/4000DEFThis card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card cannot be Special Summoned, except by having 10 or more Monster Cards in your Graveyard. Once per turn, you can Special Summon 1 Level 8 or higher Fairy-Type monster from your hand or Graveyard. Its effect(s) is negated, and its ATK becomes 4000.

Now, I doubt I'd miss the mark too much if I said that most would look at that summoning condition and relegate Sephiron to the unused card pool, where it can shake hands with cards such as Trent, Shapesnatch and Red-Eyes B. Dragon.

However, let us not be hasty. Firstly, let us look at the positive points. Firstly, it does not require a Normal Summon and there is no cost associated with it at all. Even "free" cards such as Chaos Sorcerer have a summoning cost, albeit a minor one. Secondly, it has an equal attack and defence, that of four-thousand apiece - there's no easy way to overcome it through beating it, and it tramples everything in it's path anyway. Thirdly, it's a Fairy and thus can aid other Fairies, most prominently Archlord Kristya and Master Hyperion. Fourthly, it can summon a Level 8 Fairy, negate it's effect and turn it into a 4000ATK beatstick.

No cost. No penalty. Nothing. Entirely of it's own volition, it can hit the field and call forth a 4000ATK monstrosity as a pal. You don't even have to use a Normal Summon. Why, if you cleared the field beforehand, it's a victory.

But now, we must look to that ever-annoying condition. Ten monster cards in the graveyard. This isn't something that can use it's effect on the first turn, before the opponent has set-up. No, this is almost late-game. For most decks, that is.

I'm sure that we are all familiar with the Lightsworn archetype? It's very foundation is based around using it's own deck as a candlestick to burn. I am sure that you see the synergy; the Lightsworns fulfill the summoning condition, and Sephiron clears up. Judgement Dragon can even sweep the field for Sephiron's arrival.

But, ah-h-h-h, the question is how will Sephiron push for game? Even with Judgement Dragon by it's side (something which is not guaranteed), the total falls a thousand short. The answer is, of course, a rather common tech-in for Lightsworns. None other than Archlord Kristya, of course - Kristya's incorporation into the archetype is often given the name "Kristyasworn" (I'd go with "Archsworn", myself...), but is not terribly popular.

With Sephiron, you can achieve an alternate win condition. Truth be told, I doubt you'd run many of them - Monster Reincarnation and Beckoning Light can retrieve Sephiron from the graveyard (the latter can also secure Honest, which would allow you to deal four-thousand points of damage with Sephiron without needing monster removal beforehand) should it get milled, and simply drawing into it puts it in your hand as well. I would think running two Kristya's and Sephiron would be sufficient; it's small enough to fit into the average Side Deck, so you can always keep it as a just-in-case option.

But I feel I'm rambling. Other ideas that occurred to me was the idea of a DARK build focused on Sephiron and a Darklord; the obvious candidate is Darklord Zerato, since it's effect is occasionally of use. To fill the grave for Sephiron's effect, the thought occurs that TeleDAD-esque plays would be advisable. Dark Grepher, Armageddon Knight, Destiny Hero - Malicious - things of that sort. You could also use Dark Armed Dragon, but I feel that the removal would make it hard to achieve that ten-monster requirement - this is also why I think Sephiron might have trouble fitting into Agent Angels, who have Hyperion. While the deck does fill the graveyard easily (Mystical Shine Balls/Agent of Creation - Venus for one), the cards would often be better spent destroying things through Hyperion's effect.

To conclude (at last!), should Sephiron see play, it would likely be in a Lightsworn deck, with an outlying possibility of a Darklord-orientated deck.

-A. Assiduity

Vala-Malefics: First Draft

"Malefic Truth Dragon"

Hello fellow members of the Yu-Gi-Oh! blogging community, today I will be presenting you with a first draft of a Malefic deck. But first, I shall bore you with a little bit of back story. A good friend of mine recently took up Yu-Gi-Oh! again after I dragged him back into it. His Watt deck was... sub par to say the least. So being the remotely kind guy I am, I offered to help him with a Malefic deck. I happily obliged. This is what I came up with.

Monsters [20]
[2] Malefic Truth Dragon
[3] Malefic Cyber End Dragon
[3] Malefic Stardust Dragon
[3] Malefic Blue-Eyes White Dragon
[3] Malefic Parallel Gear
[3] Beast King Barbaros
[3] Blue-Eyes White Dragon

Spells [11]
[3] Malefic World
[2] Terraforming
[3] Trade-In
[1] Allure of Darkness
[1] Dark Hole
[1] Monster Reborn

Traps [9]
[3] Skill Drain
[1] Mirror Force
[1] Torrential Tribute
[2] Seven Tools of the Bandit
[1] Solemn Judgment
[1] Return from a Different Dimension

Extra Deck [12]
[3] Malefic Paradox Dragon
[3] Cyber End Dragon
[3] Stardust Dragon
[3] Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

As always, suggestions are more than appreciated. Please don't forget to follow our blog if you are not following it already. Also, I wish to thank everyone who is following this blog. It means a lot to us. I hope you enjoyed this post.

~Valafar123

TMW Expands to a more arty side

Yup we're finally moving on into making team banners and whatnot.

Here are some renders that we will be using for the first banner. The next banner will probably be a Solemn Warning and Pot of Duality banner.

This one went pretty well and I'm proud of it.

This one was pretty difficult and has some small errors in it.

Feel free to use them as you please.

~Valafar123

I loathe this card

"Infernity Inferno"

This card has caused me a lot of grief since the start of last format. It's inconsistent, inactive and generally poor as far as cards go. It's extremely fast, don't get me wrong, but in all honesty, that's its only merit.

I'll go into why this card has caused my trouble. Firstly, it's a trap (no obscure internet reference intended). That means it's very easy to stop. Fortunately, all discards from this card are done by effect, so you don't waste resources by activating it. Secondly, you need to discard. Novice Infernity players would think that it good to discard. That, however, is fatally wrong and leads to burned resources.

Back in March 09 format, we had 3 copies of "Infernity Launcher" at our disposal. If we opened with both cards, the chances are we would win. That, however, is no longer the case. The loop takes much longer to assemble, sufficed to say that the loop is the primary goal, which may not necessarily be the case anymore. Consequently, "Infernity Inferno" will probably sit in the back row idle for most of the game. That idle Inferno could be a powerful spell or trap card like "Solemn Warning" or "Forbidden Lance".

Moreover, it's a terrible topdeck. At least the two aforementioned cards could help bide time, Inferno will just sit their doing nothing. I've played matches where I've opened with two or three copies of Inferno. Consequently, I was unable to reinforce my back row properly and my matches were a lot more difficult.

As you can see, I'm not a huge fan of this card. The OCG is a different story, but I really do hate this card in TCG builds and I will be omitting it for the next few months for testing purposes.

Please leave a comment with your thoughts on this topic.

~Valafar123

Σ

That's right, this monstrosity has finally had it's effect confirmed. Vylon Disigma is a LIGHT Fairy, and among the first Rank 4 Exceed monsters. 2500 attack combined with 2100 defence, it's about on par with Aspiring Emperor Hope.

Except this effect is actually very good.

3 Level 4 Monsters

Once per turn, you can remove 1 of this card's Exceed Materials to select 1 face-up attack-position Effect Monster your opponent controls and equip it to this card as an Equip Card. When this card battles against a monster with the same Attribute as a Monster card equipped to this card by this card's effect, destroy that monster at the start of the Damage Step without damage calculation. 

The first thing to note is this: three Level 4 monsters to summon. That's not great, since it makes it harder to summon. But I feel that the rest of the effect makes up for it: it turns Disigma into an psuedo-Catastor which can hit all types. Against decks based on archetypes, this will most likely be a very hard play, as most archetypes tend to gravitate around Attributes. And, thanks to this card, you can "absorb" their monster (preventing it from going to the graveyard) and use it to destroy them.


Interesting note is that as this is Light, I can quite conceivably see a Chaos deck rising up around it. Hm...
~A. Assiduity

A. Assiduity Amasses Amazing Asskicking Automatons

I, for one, welcome our new Machine overlords.

Karakuri Steel Shogun mdl 00X "Bureido"

As several readers may already know, I've been screwing around with Karakuri's for some time. Below is what I currently consider to be my best build of my Karakuri deck. There is some stuff I have yet to test, primarily because it probably won't be that great.

Monsters [22]

[3] Machina Gearframe

[2] Machina Fortress

[1] Machina Cannon

[2] Lonefire Blossom

[1] Spore

[1] Glow-Up Bulb

[2] Karakuri Komachi 224

[2] Karakuri Watchdog 313

[2] Karakuri Strategist 248

[2] Karakuri Ninja 919

[2] Karakuri Soldier 236

[1] Psychic Commander

[1] Mind Master

Spells [13]

[1] Emergency Teleport

[1] Giant Trunade

[1] Book of Moon

[1] MST

[1] Pot of Avarice

[1] One for One

[1] Limiter Removal

[1] Monster Reborn

[2] De-Synchro

[1] Dark Hole

[2] Instant Fusion

Traps [5]

[2] Trap Stun

[1] Solemn Judgement

[1] Mirror Force

[1] Seven Tools of the Bandit

Extra Deck [15]

[2] Cyber Saurus

[1] Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

[1] Ally of Justice Catastor

[1] Naturia Beast

[1] Brionac

[3] Karakuri Shogun mdl 00 "Burei"

[3] Karakuri Steel Shogun mdl 00X "Bureido"

[1] Stardust Dragon

[1] Scrap Dragon

[1] Trishula

As for stuff I'm trying out... well, I'm running most of my trap diversity in the Side Deck at the moment, along with CyDra and Dandylion for the occasional match-up where it's warranted (along with generic counter-archetype cards). There's also stuff like Mind Control, which didn't make the cut, but I might put back in. If the Instant Fusions start to bore me, I'll probably put some T.G. Hyper Librarian's into the Extra Deck instead.

So yeah, this is my current build. Thoughts about what I should do with it? 

Deck of the Month [01] - Dragunity

Arceus here with the 1st edition of Arceus's Deck of the month. In these posts I will be discussing some top decks (or soon to be) of the format and giving an example build. For the month of March, I will be discussing the Dragunity deck.

In the coming days, the TCG will be receiving Structure Deck: Dragunity Legion. With its release, the Dragunity deck will have all of its support to finally be a playable deck. I will now dscuss some of the strategies of the deck.

== 1. The Monsters ==

The main combos of the Dragunity deck involve Dragunity Dux and Dragunity Phalanx. When Dragunity Dux is Summoned, you can select 1 Dragunity monster in your Graveyard and equip it to Dux. When Dragunity Phalanx is equipped to a Dragunity monster, you can Special Summon it, and it's also a Tuner monster. You then tune these 2 monsters into a Level 6 Synchro Monster, particularly Dragunity Knight - Vajrayana. Just like Dux, Vajrayana allows you to equip a Dragunity monster to it when it's Summoned. Equip Phalanx to Vajrayana and Special Summon Phalanx. Then tune your 2 monsters into a Levek 8 Synchro monster. This gives you a huge advantage over your opponent if performed on the first turn.

Another combo involves Dragunity Legionnaire and Dragunity Aklys. Legionnaire has the same equipping effect as Dux. However, you can send the equipped monster to the Graveyard to destroy 1 monster your opponent controls. Dragunity Aklys's effect allows you to destroy 1 monster on the field when sent to the Graveyard. Combine Aklys with Legionnaire to destroy 2 of your opponent's monsters.

Another combo you can do is with Dragunity Arma Levyateinn and Phalanx. When you control a face-up Dragunity equipped with a monster, you can remove the Dragunity from play to Special Sumon Levyateinn from your hand. When he's summoned, you can equip any Dragon-type monster to him. If you equip Phalanx, you can Synchro into an instant Trident Dragion and possibly OTK the opponent.

Levyateinn also has a loop with Light and Darkness Dragon. Equip LADD to your Levyateinn when Summoned. When Levyateinn would be destroyed, LADD's effect activates, destroying your whole field, and allowing you to summon 1 monster from your Graveyard. Summon back your Levyateinn and equip your LADD to it again. This combo is very hard to stop and only cards like Trishula, Drafon of the Ice Barrier or Caius the Shadow Monarch can stop it.

== 2. The Spells ==

The Dragunity's main Spell card is a Field Spell known as Dragon Ravine. Once per turn, you can discard 1 card to add 1 Level 4 or lower Dragunity monster from your deck to your hand or send 1 Dragon-type monster from your deck to the Graveyard. Dragon Ravine is the most vitle card in the Dragunity Deck. It is their main engine of using Dux-Phalanx plays. I believe Dragunity's would not be alive without this card. In fact, I recommend using Terraforming's to get this card out as soon as possible.

The deck also has its own draw power: Cards of Consonance. You can discard any Dragon with 1000 or less attack to draw 2 cards. You have 2 different monsters that work with this: Aklys and Phalanx. This also helps set up your Legionnaire and Dux plays by getting your targets in the Graveyard.

Pot of Avarice is also a crucial card in this deck. It helps recycle your Dux's and Vajrayana's. If using the Volcanic build, it also combos well with Volcanic Shell's, as they are also used for Ravine's discard effect and maintaining hand advantage.

The rest of the Spells are standard.

- Monster Reborn
- Dark Hole
- Book of Moon
- Giant Trunade
- Mystical Space Typhoon
- Forbidden Lance

== 3. Traps ==

I can't say much about the Trap cards except that you either you Standard Traps or 3 Royal Decree. You can tech an Icarus Attack but I would not recommend it.

Staple Traps:

- Solemn Warning
- Solemn Judgment
- Bottomless Trap Hole
- Mirror Force
- Torrential Tribute
- Dimensional Prison
- Royal Decree

== 4. Sample Deck Lists ==

Pure Dragunity

Monsters: 17
x3 Dragunity Dux
x3 Dragunity Phalanx
x3 Dragunity Legionnaire
x3 Dragunity Aklys
x2 Dragunity Arma Levyateinn
x2 Dragunity Arma Mysteileinn
x1 Dragunity Brandistock

Spells: 16
x3 Dragon Ravine
x2 Terraforming
x3 Cards of Consonance
x1 Monster Reborn
x1 Dark Hole
x1 Book of Moon
x1 Giant Trunade
x2 Forbidden Lance
x2 Pot of Avarice

Traps: 7
x2 Solemn Warning
x1 Solemn Judgment
x2 Bottomless Trap Hole
x1 Mirror Force
x1 Torrential Tribute

Extra Deck: 15
x3 Dragunity Knight - Vajrayana
x1 Dragunity Knight - Gae Dearg
x1 Vortex the Whirlwind
x1 Trident Dragion
x2 Stardust Dragon
x1 Red Dragon Archfiend
x1 Scrap Dragon
x1 Colossal Fighter
x1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
x1 Ally of Justice Catastor
x1 Black Rose Dragon
x1 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

--

Volcanic Dragunity

Monsters: 18
x3 Dragunity Dux
x3 Dragunity Phalanx
x3 Dragunity Legionnaire
x3 Dragunity Aklys
x1 Dragunity Arma Levyateinn
x2 Dragunity Arma Mysteilienn
x3 Volcanic Shell

Spells: 17
x3 Dragon Ravine
x2 Terraforming
x2 Cards of Consonance
x2 Forbidden Lance
x2 Mystical Space Typhoon
x1 Book of Moon
x1 Monster Reborn
x1 Dark Hole
x1 Giant Trunade
x1 Pot of Avarice

Traps: 5
x2 Solemn Warning
x1 Solemn Judgment
x1 Mirror Force
x1 Torrential Tribute

Extra Deck: 15

x3 Dragunity Knight - Vajrayana

x1 Dragunity Knight - Gae Dearg

x1 Vortex the Whirlwind

x1 Trident Dragion

x2 Stardust Dragon

x1 Red Dragon Archfiend

x1 Scrap Dragon

x1 Colossal Fighter

x1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

x1 Ally of Justice Catastor

x1 Black Rose Dragon

x1 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

--

Levyateinn LADD Loop

Monsters: 18
x3 Dragunity Dux
x3 Dragunity Phalanx
x3 Dragunity Legionnaire
x3 Dragunity Aklys
x3 Dragunity Arma Levyateinn
x1 Dragunity Arma Mysteileinn
x2 Light and Darkness Dragon

Spells: 18
x3 Dragon Ravine
x2 Terraforming
x2 Cards of Consonance
x2 Trade-In
x1 Book of Moon
x1 Forbidden Lance
x1 Monster Reborn
x1 Dark Hole
x1 Giant Trunade
x2 Pot of Avarice
x2 Mystical Space Typhoon

Traps: 4
x3 Royal Decree
x1 Call of the Haunted

Extra Deck: 15

x3 Dragunity Knight - Vajrayana

x1 Dragunity Knight - Gae Dearg

x1 Vortex the Whirlwind

x1 Trident Dragion

x2 Stardust Dragon

x1 Red Dragon Archfiend

x1 Scrap Dragon

x1 Colossal Fighter

x1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

x1 Ally of Justice Catastor

x1 Black Rose Dragon

x1 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

--

This wraps up this month's Deck of the Month. Thank you for taking the time to read this article. If anyone as suggestions of future decks to review, leave them in the comments.

~Arceus