Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Review: Solemn Warning

I'm surprised i actually didn't review this card yet. Since its release in Duelist Revolution, its one of those 'run this or lose' cards. While i'm not saying that not running it means you suck, because i personally don't have one. But if you have it, it really does come in handy.

Its time for Solemn warning, folks.

God says "Nah"

This Counter Trap card has a simple effect. Pay 2000 life points and negate a summon (Including in the damage step).

This card does not ask for a specific attack requirement, like Bottomless. It does not ask for the summon to be the last thing to occur, like Thunder King Rai-Oh or Black horn of heaven. And it does not ask for half your life points everytime, Like its bigger brother, Solemn Judgment. All it asks is for your opponent to summon something.

This card truly is powerful. If you run it, you will instantly notice the satisfying feeling of negating Caius/Shi en with it. And you will feel immense rage when your opponent does it back. Back in the early days of Yu-Gi-Oh (I did play back in the early days, but i sucked. I thought Vampire Genesis was broken!), the idea of paying life points to negate something defeated the point of using it. Back then, having more life points than your opponent meant you were winning, regardless of field or hand presence.

However, the game has evolved since then. Now, victory is dictated by advantage. You can have 100 Life points but 5 monsters on the field while your opponent has 8000 and an empty field, and you are winning. that's why, the Painful sacrifice of at least 1/4 of your life points can mean the difference between winning and losing.

This card has some downsides unlike solemn judgment as well as other cards. Sometimes you cannot pay 2000 life points, but you can always pay half your life points for Judgment's effect. Warning cannot negate spells or traps either, but thats what other negation cards in your deck are for.

With Cold wave banned tomorrow, as well as book of moon at 1, traps are going to be dominating the meta. This means Warning is feeling right at home, along with its friends Bottomless and Judgment chilling out on either side of it in your backrow. But a trap heavy format is an easy target for cards like Trap stun and Royal Decree. while those two cards cannot negate Solemn Warning (It's just too damn fast!), they can be activated at the end of your turn, or the beginning of theirs, so warning cannot be activated. And i now know personally how miniscule the cost for a versatile card like Seven Tools of the Bandit is nowadays. Trust me, it's Solemn Warning's arch nemesis, and since 2000 life points is a cost, they have to pay it even if its negated.

The cost for this card, since the announcing of the banlist, is just getting rediculous. Its reaching heights of $60 (around £35 for us UK duelists). I can understand Pot of duality. It's a secret rare, its draw power, its a spell card. But this card is far from broken, and its at 2 now.

I don't know, maybe thats just my biased opinion because im a cheapskate on the grand scale of buying cards these days. However, if i stumbled upon one, i would run it immediately. You won't regret it.

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: Wiseman's chalice

It's been a while since ive reviewed a card other than a card from Storm of Ragnarok. Today im reviewing a special card called Wiseman's Chalice

This guy just got even wiser...

This Spell card debuted as a super rare in Duelist Revolution. You know the set: the one with the $100 Secret and the $50-60 Trap card.

If you control no monsters, you can special summon a monster from your opponent's graveyard to your side of the field. It cannot be used for a tribute summon or a synchro summon and in the end phase, give control of it to your opponent.

Wow, thats alot of restrictions on a card. At least you can attack with it. But i'm not reviewing it for any reason. Players have suddenly realised the potential of this card when the new game mechanic is released. That is, the wonders of exceed summoning.

To exceed summon, you need to place two monsters of the same level under the monster you wish to summon. Just like Mind control, it was abused when a new mechanic came out (synchro summoning) because the monster being taken control could be used with it.

With Wiseman's chalice, you can now use the monster you special summoned from your opponent's graveyard for an exceed summon. This has the possibility to see huge play when they are finally released in August.

So yeah, stock up on Chalice while they are less than a Dollar each, because i can see them going up very soon.

New Video: Six Samurais, which card is the real problem?

Hey guys. I made a quick video with my conversation with a guy last night at the tourney i went to. He played Six samurai and got first.

So yeah. He discussed how Kageki is a much bigger threat than Gateway. I personally am undecisive on which, but im veering into Gateway still being the problem. Konami seems to think so.

Legendary Six Samurai - Kageki, on its own, is a powerful card and while i compare it to cards like marauding captain, it is actually much better. Sure, it can only special summon a six samurai from your hand, but with Reinforcement of the army and 3 Shien smoke signals, the deck is just so incredibly consistent. When facing a deck that is tier one, you just hope to god that they get a terrible hand and draw into nothing so you can win in a few turns. The new six samurai however, do not have terrible opening hands, ever. Use Shien's smoke signal to search for kageki, summon it and get Kagemusha. then synchro summon Legendary six samurai Shi en. The fact that Kagemusha and Kageki are searchable by almost every spell card in the deck makes this combo too damn good.

On the other side, there's Gateway to the six, which Konami thinks is the problem. While Shien's smoke signal is a good search card, it cannot search Kizan unlike Gateway. With multiple gateway, you can search a six samurai after every summon, allowing you to summon multiple Shi ens in one turn. Can kageki summon more than one Shi en? No, it cant. After watching a few six samurai mirror matches, i came across one mirror match where one of the decks was in line with the new banlist, and the other was not. The guy that was running 3 gateways went 2-0 solely on the consistency that it had with those 3 gateways.

Right now, im undecided. They are both problems to your opponent in their own way and I doubt either one will get banned.

The 2011 March ban list: Unlimited discussion

The last part of the banlist left to discuss is the unlimited list. That is, all the cards that were somewhere on the banlist before, but are now playable at 3.

Unlimited:
Chaos Sorcerer
Demise, King of Armageddon
Snipe Hunter
Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier
Gold Sarcophagus
Skill Drain
Ultimate Offering

Chaos sorcerer has been all over the banlist in its time. It's been a while since its been at 3 however. Players have come to the conclusion that its only decent when its at 3, because being able to summon multiple at once can really mess your opponent up. Twilight decks really benefit from this. This is one of those cards that really is a hit and miss in decks. Sometimes its a dead draw from hell, and sometimes its your salvation.

Demise, King of Armageddon , like Chaos Sorcerer has been up and down the banlist. Its got a cruel effect, with the cost being more than JDs but the card itself is more balanced. Players stopped playing demise decks because of its semi-limit, and now that its back to where it belongs, it might see some serious play.

Snipe Hunter, Unlimited from 1, has only been seeing play in Fabled decks, with its ability to 1-for-1 most of the time, as well as discard. Unfortunately, around a third of the time, its a -1, which really can hurt if you keep rolling a 1 or a 6. There is no real reason to have it at 1, so its fine where its going.

Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier has not been in the TCG for very long. To my recollection, it had a loop when two of them were on the field, or something like that. Im guessing that loop is not as great as it used to be, so back to 3 it goes.

Gold Sarcophagus is no big deal at 3. Nobody would play 3 except for maybe Exodia decks or Coelacanth decks. But thats a select few. Everyone has got about 10 of them when they were released in the Duelist revolution special edition.

Skill Drain will make a big impact once we get the Malefic archetype. They can stay on the field without a field spell with Skill drain on the field, and you can have multiple malefic monsters on the field at once, just like Paradox from the Movie. It is a powerful card that will make the deck its used in tier 1-2. And everyone will agree that Deck Diversity is crucial to a fun game for all.

Ultimate Offering, is not being used by anyone in our metagame. Its a decent tech in gadgets. With the Exceed monsters coming to the TCG in August, You can Summon all 6 gadgets and Exceed summon 3 Rank 4 Exceed monsters. Thats pretty good. But for the first part of this format, its harmless at 3.


Well that's it from me. Make sure to check out my youtube channel.

Now, back to Card Reviews!

TheTCGLover has a Yu-Gi-Oh! Channel!

Hey. I've decided to have a channel on Youtube that links with this blog. Check it out!

HERE

I'll also upload any new content from my youtube channel onto this blog too.

My First Video:

The 2011 March ban list: Semi-Limited discussion

Hey. To show some actual continuity on this blog, the next set of cards on the banlist to discuss are the newly semi limited ones. They are:

Archlord Kristya

Card Trooper

Debris Dragon

Spirit reaper

Megamorph

Overload fusion

Royal Tribute

Icarus attack

Solemn warning

Archlord Kristya has been at 3 since its release, but thats not to say its a powerful card. With a high attack power, a rather easy summoning condition with added hand advantage, an increasingly useful continuous effect while on the field AND the ability to recycle itself back to the top of your deck, its got something for everyone. It limited its playability with it only being usable in a fairy deck, or a deck that splashes many fairies (Which does not really exist, except for maybe Perfect Herald decks). But to me, many players that played fairy decks played Kristya at 2 anyway, so semi limiting it really does not hurt it whatsoever.

Card trooper is the big one for me personally. As I've reviewed before, it has a built in milling ability that pumps its attack into a beatstick and replaces its self if it gets destroyed. Its a brilliant card and now that its at two, it can be used to replace the lost Dandylion in Plant synchro decks. There was no need to put it at 1 when you cannot perform the Card trooper OTK with 2 of them anyway. Expect to see this card become a semi-staple in this upcoming format with it being able to get under bottomless and +1 you if it runs into a mirror force.

Debris Dragon has been brought down to 2 from unlimited. It is abused too much in plant decks with dandylion. But has putting it to 2 really made a difference? The only difference i can see is consistency issues, but thats about it.

Spirit reaper has been at 1 for a long time. I do not know the exact banlist that it was limited though. Its a powerful card that provides a nice wall to protect you if a combo went wrong or you need to stall for something like Final countdown. In my opinion, i had enough trouble dealing with one, but maybe two is a little too annoying for my taste.

Megamorph , Like spirit reaper, has been limited for quite a while. Nobody plays equip spells anymore, and this card is not very special. Sure, it doubles your monster's attack power when you're losing, but people do not build their decks to win when they're losing.

Overload fusion is usually combined with Future fusion to make a mean OTK. you use future fusion to send Cyber Dragon (which is at 3 now) along with many machine types from your deck to the graveyard for Chimeratech Overdragon. Then you use Overload fusion to remove all the machine types from your graveyard to summon that Overdragon. You now have a huge beatstick that tends to mean OTK. With Overload fusion at 1 and Future fusion at 1 too, the deck was incredibly inconsistent. But with this card at 2, the deck might shine again.

Royal Tribute at 2 is not really a big deal. Gravekeepers players can still get this card into their hand with Pot of Duality or Gold Sarcophagus. Putting it to 1 or banning it entirely would have been much better.

Icarus attack is Konami's attempt to damage blackwings alongside limiting Blackwing - Kalut the moon shadow. While blackwings get top 32 in the tournaments in america/europe, they are a tier one deck in the OCG, which explains why blackwings have been hit hard this banlist. It is also an amazing card which can blow up any 2 cards you choose, so it was always a gorgeous 2-for-2 card.

Lastly, Solemn Warning is a powerful card which in my observation of decklists and duels, were played at 2. That's not to say that they were never played in 3s, but hitting it to 2 is not that painful. The idea of paying up to 6000 life points seems absurd, but it was used at 3 for consistency because once you drew it, you had the opportunity to stop a deadly play right in its tracks.

Next up, the UNLIMITED LIST!

The 2011 March ban list: Limited discussion

It's time to discuss the next part of the banlist; the limited list.

Limited:
Honest
Dandylion
Blackwing - Kalut the Moon Shadow
Book of Moon
Gateway of the Six

Honest has been limited from 2. It seems that with honest at 1 and Kalut the moon shadow at 1 too, konami is trying to aim for a format that emphasizes attack points. With Honest, one could attack with a ryko, knowing that it could get over any monster. While light is not the most supported attribute, it is an amazing support card that could be reused with Monster reborn and Beckoning light. But now that honest is a one man band, if you draw it, you better use it when you need to.

Dandylion was semi-limited back in march 2010. A professional duelist called Jeff Jones saw the synergy that Dandylion had with Debris dragon and Quickdraw Synchron as well as Drill warrior. With that, and a few other powerful cards, he created a tournament winning deck called Quickdraw dandywarrior. One year later, and that deck is dead, but Plant synchro took its place, which abuses dandylion to a much further extent (Mat Collins won YCS Milan with Plant synchro in November). With Debris dragon being so abusable with Dandylion, with the main combo is to summon Black rose dragon and get two tokens, it was limited to one. Konami tried to compromise this change by Semi-limiting Card trooper, which i will talk about when i write the Semi-Limited discussion

Blackwing - Kalut the moon shadow is in the same boat as Honest. It provided any blackwing monster with the attack power it needed to get over any monster. Your opponent uses his resources to summon a big monster with a beefy attack power. But with Kalut at 3, there was no need to worry about being attacked. It could be combined with shura the blue flame to ensure that you always get it's effect to special summon.

Book of moon was the big limit of the banlist. It has been at 3 this format and some people considored it a staple at 3. With its unmatched versatility (Stop attacks, flip a tuner face down to stop a synchro summon, flip your monster down to get past bottomless, flip your ryko face down when its attacked to get its effect again ETC), It is one of the best -1 cards in the game. I feel that the game is better with Book of moon at 1. However, there is now a bigger emphasis on trap stun and royal decree now that most of the backrow cards will be traps. You could run Enemy controller to replace book of moon, but it just does not compare in terms on versatility. Make sure you're running your backrow hate next format!

Lastly there is Gateway of the six. The Legendary Six Samurai have been in the OCG for almost a whole format, so the Six samurai have had enough time to prove their position as a tier one deck. But the reason why it is such a good deck is because of the broken combos when combined with Gateway of the six. With 2 Gateways on the field, you could summon one six samurai and have enough counters to search for a monster. Repeat this and you suddenly have a field full of monsters. That is why Gateway is fine at 1. The deck is still functional and Shi en is still as powerful of a card. I'm glad i traded my Gateway when it was still $30.

So thats my quick take for the Limited list. I'll post my semi-limited verdict soon!

The 2011 March ban list: Forbidden discussion

For today's post, i would like to discuss what konami has decided to ban this format. With 5D's almost over and the new Exceed monsters coming out in the TCG in August, this is the last 5D's format *cries*.

In terms of the banlist, Konami have decided to Ban (put to 0) Goyo guardian, Cold wave and Mass driver. I want to discuss each choice individually.

Goyo guardian has been with us since august 2008. It's been around since the beginning of the 5D's era alongside Stardust dragon and Red dragon archfiend. It's always been close to bannable but konami left it at 1 to stop it being abused. Its amazing attack, not too shabby defence, and an effect that steals your opponent's monsters when it destroys them, makes it a powerhouse that takes its own prisoners. It also had no specific tuner or non-tuner requirement, which made it easy to summon whenever you wanted, to turn the tide of the duel. However, now that konami have banned it this march, players will have to resort to the other level 6's, mainly brionac, dragon of the ice barrier. But one of goyo's biggest bonuses was it's ability to take an opponent's stardust from them, so you can use it's effect yourself, or any monsters effect. Another option is Gaia Knight, the force of earth, with 2600 attack. It may not pack as much punch, but its generic, it gets over stardust, and its a warrior type.

Cold wave, for the last couple of formats, has risen in play with players suddenly realising how much of an impact monster effect have in yu-gi-oh, plus heavy storm being banned in september last year. Players needed another way of dealing with backrows other than giant trunade. It's ability to shut down spells and traps makes it an OTK tool. With Six samurai being able to churn out a Shi en, or Lightsworns being able to drop a Judgment dragon and blow up the field, or XX-Sabers able to summon XX-Saber Hyunlei, all the meta decks had a use for this card, and it was about time it left us for good. However, with it gone, the only decent backrow removal cards are Mystical space typhoon and giant trunade. It just is not enough removal to deal with your opponent's spells and traps, and people are fearing that march-august is going to be a "Set 5 facedowns and end my turn" format.

Mass driver when the shining darkness was released, was used in conjunction with Ronintoadin and Substitoad. Substitoad was used to fill the grave with frogs, and ronintoadin removed those frogs to special summon itself. Mass driver meant you could special summon ronintoadin, tribute it for mass driver and deal 400 damage, and repeat it 20 times for a total of 8000 damage. Konami decided to ban substitoad to deal with this First turn kill, but in my opinion, mass driver being banned would have killed the FTK and prevent new FTKs from arising in the future, thus allowing a more diverse card pool in the future without the worry that an exploitable loop would be found. Now that mass driver is banned, substitoad should come back to 1.


To be honest, goyo should have been left at 1. It was fine there, and im sure you agree with me on that. If anything, brionac is more devastating to the game and to the exceed monsters in the future.

The 2011 March ban list (Unconfirmed)

Here it is:

Forbidden:
Goyo Guardian
Cold Wave
Mass Driver

Limited:
Honest
Dandylion
Blackwing - Kalut the Moon Shadow
Book of Moon
Gateway of the Six

Semi-Limited
Card Trooper
Archlord Kristya
Spirit Reaper
Debris Dragon
Royal Tribute
Overload Fusion
Megamorph
Solemn Warning
Icarus Attack

Unlimited:
Chaos Sorcerer
Demise, King of Armageddon
Snipe Hunter
Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier
Gold Sarcophagus
Skill Drain
Ultimate Offering


A very strange banlist indeed. But it is still unconfirmed, so we might see a change when the real one comes out next week.

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: Watthydra

With storm of ragnarok, Watts have been given another installment of cards to add to their already unique arsenal. All of their monsters comprise of different animals that have been electrocuted into some kind of super animals. The synchro monsters of the archetype however, are based on mythical animals.

In Duelist Revolution, Watt players got introduced into Wattchimera. But in Storm of Ragnarok, Watts got another synchro monster called Watthydra.

A Gold Sarcophagus with a body!

Watthydra hits the field with an underwhelming 1500 attack and defence. But its effect explains why that's the case.

This card can attack directly. If this card deals damage to your opponent by a direct attack, you can remove from play a card from your deck and then you can add it to your hand in 2 turns.

So this card is a Direct attacker, with a built in Gold Sarcophagus. That's not bad at all. People play Gold Sarcophagus so one with attack points is even better. Since it can attack your opponent directly, you can get this effect multiple times with cards that let you attack twice, like double attack.

And this card is a Light monster, like the rest of the watts, so they all work with honest, so you can attack directly during your turn, and honest them on theirs. Which equals big amounts of damage.

However, like Wattchimera, its difficult to summon with its 1 Watt tuner + 1 or more non-tuner thunder type monsters. But unlike Chimera, it can be destroyed by bottomless trap hole with its 1500 attack.

But you can get round that with Royal Decree and Trap Stun, which are a necessity for Watt decks, which usually attack directly to get their effects.

So yeah, since it's a super rare, you can pick one up cheaply if you do decide to play watts.

What Konami has planned for us: 2011

Here is a statement released by Konami showcasing all the stuff they plan to release in the first half of 2011:


EL SEGUNDO, CA (February 10, 2011) – Fresh off a successful 2010 holiday season, Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. (Konami) is poised to further strengthen its position in 2011 with a series of new Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME (TCG) releases. Announced today, these products will be showcased in the Konami Booth #5423 (Hall 1) at the American International Toy Fair to be held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City from February 13-16.

“The Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME has been a cornerstone of our business. We strive to continually add meaningful content to each of our new product releases. From the budding Duelist and the competitive level player to our hobby and mass market retail partners, we are confident that this year’s product line-up will satisfy everyone and position us for another very successful year,” said Yumi Hoashi, vice president, Card Business for Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.
Debuting in late February, Yu-Gi-Oh! 3D: Bonds Beyond Time portrays a sinister Duelist who is collecting the most powerful monsters from throughout history and can only be stopped if the heroes of all three Yu-Gi-Oh! animated series: Yugi, Jaden and Yusei join forces. To celebrate this second Yu-Gi-Oh! feature film, Yu-Gi-Oh! 3D: Bonds Beyond Time Movie Pack releases February 22. This special pack (MSRP $4.99), closely follows the movie theme and includes the warped and twisted “Malefic” monsters, used by the movie’s time-traveling villain. Each pack includes five random Secret Rare cards from the movie.

Coming in like a lion, on March 8, Structure Deck: Dragunity Legion unleashes its brand new monster theme combining Celtic Dragons with Winged Beasts from ancient Rome. Highly disciplined and militaristic, Dragunity Decks work because the bigger Dragunity monsters can wield the smaller ones as living weapons! Structure Deck: Dragunity Legion (MSRP $9.99) is a great platform for Duelists of any skill level to build a Dragunity Deck for themselves. The set also includes five brand-new cards unavailable anywhere else.

On the heels of this month’s (February) launch of the Storm of Ragnarok booster set, March 22 is the release of Storm of Ragnarok Special Edition. Eagerly anticipated by fans for its great value (MSRP: $9.99), this box offers a second chance for glory, with three booster packs of Storm of Ragnarok plus one of two Super Rare variant cards: Light and Darkness Dragon or Hand of the Six Samurai.

To kick-off the second quarter, the 2011 Duelist Pack Collection Tin will be available on April 5. These cool black-tinted mini-tins commemorate Yusei’s battles against the villainous Dark Signers on the Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s animated series. Duelists looking to collect some of Yusei’s favorite monsters, Spells, and Traps can recreate his game-winning strategies from TV with these collectible Tins. Each Tin (MSRP: $9.99) includes three packs of Duelist Pack: Yusei 3 and one pack of Duelist Revolution. Additionally, to represent The Forces of Darkness, each Tin also includes four Synchro Monsters used by Yusei’s adversaries, the Dark Signers. Three of these are Super Rare reprints of hard-to-find Synchro Monsters previously released. The fourth is a brand new, Secret Rare Synchro Monster, never before seen!

Just in time for Easter shoppers, a third mighty Dragon of the Ice Barrier will be unleashed with the introduction of Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier in Hidden Arsenal 4: Trishula’s Triumph on April 19. The all-foil set includes 60 brand-new monsters including the super-powered Dragon Trishula, who’s a great addition to any Deck. Hidden Arsenal 4 (MSRP: $3.99) also contains ten Dragunity monsters, including two Dragunity Synchro Monsters, making it a perfect match with Structure Deck: Dragunity Legion.

May is a Duelist’s fantasy as three new products hit store shelves, beginning with the pitting of the ultimate Synchro Monsters against the ultimate anti-Synchros in the Extreme Victory booster set (MSRP $3.99) May 10. Extreme Victory takes Synchro Monsters to their ultimate extreme, with the new T.G. (Tech Genus) monsters. T.G. Decks are specially designed to crank out Synchro Monsters at a fast and furious pace. And they can do it repeatedly. Duelists can also put the smackdown by utilizing Meklords, a vast army of extremely hungry Synchro-destroying machines. When they see a Synchro Monster, Meklords simply devour it and use its powers for themselves! This set also includes new cards for many popular championship Decks, including Gladiator Beasts, Blackwings, Six Samurai and more. It’s the set for Duelists who don’t just want a victory – they want an Extreme Victory!

With all those new cards, Duelists will want to protect and show off their bounty! The Yugi & Slifer Card Sleeves (MSRP $3.99) available May 24 will help them do just that. These new high-quality card sleeves celebrate the groundbreaking Battle City storyline, by pairing-up Yugi with his first Egyptian God Card: Slifer the Sky Dragon! Battle City remains one of the most popular Yu-Gi-Oh! storylines ever created, so fans old and new will want to grab these Egyptian God Card sleeves while they last.

Rounding out the month of May with a bang, and with a sneak peek of things to come, is the 2011 Starter Deck. With a new Yu-Gi-Oh! animated series on the horizon, which introduces an all new kind of monster, fans will be sure to hurry to stores on May 31 to get these revolutionary monsters that make their North American debut in the 2011 Starter Deck (and in advance of August’s booster set featuring the new monsters). Serving two roles, the 2011 Starter Deck is designed to teach new players the ins & outs of the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG and to teach current players about this brand new category of monsters (MSRP: $9.99)!

The last release of Q2 will help to positively position Duelists for awesome battles with Duelist Pack: Crow, the first 5D’s Duelist Pack to focus on the a character other than Yusei Fudo. Blackwing Decks have been one of the most popular Decks in North America for two years running, and available on June 6, Duelist Pack: Crow (MSRP: $1.99) is the best way for everyone to jump on board the Blackwing bandwagon! This 30-card set features reprints of 25 of Crow’s most powerful Blackwing monsters, Spells, and Traps and it also has five brand-new Blackwing cards. Even experienced Blackwing champions will want to get these new cards for their Deck!
Keeping the millions of Duelists entertained and engaged during the summer months will be easy, as Konami has two releases set for July. First is the introduction of Hidden Arsenal Special Edition on July 12 (MSRP: $9.99), which gives Duelists another chance at the first three Hidden Arsenal releases; jam packed into one epic product! Each Special Edition will also include one of two Variant Cards of a highly sought-after key card from the Hidden Arsenal monster themes. This is an ideal product for Duelists who haven’t checked out Hidden Arsenal boosters yet and want to give them a shot, or for those who missed these packs the first time around.


On July 26, let the heavens open and the celestial fury of the planets themselves be unleashed with Structure Deck: Lost Sanctuary (MSRP: $9.99). This Deck gives Duelists control over the embodiments of the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn – plus the Sun itself! This 40-card, ready-to-play Deck is for Duelists who already know how to play, but are looking for a springboard to build a Deck of their own. (And also appeals to anybody looking for some good, clean planet-tossing fun.)

For more information on Konami and Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME, please visit www.yugioh-card.com.

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: D.D. Sprite

Happy tuesday everyone! Time for another review.

If you are one of my normal readers, you may have noticed that i am churning out more reviews than i normally do. Well, since i've created this blog, i've realised how many people are reading it on a regular basis, and that means you, the reader, like what you're reading.

So yeah, i will write more reviews, in shorter time, on cards that you're pulling from the latest packs right now. Ok? Good.

Now onto the card. Today im reviewing D.D. Sprite!



This little one star tuner has no attack points and only 100 defence points. While that might sound bad, it's one of those cards that gets better and better the more you think about it.

You can remove a monster from your side of the field to special summon it from your hand. The monster removed by this effect is Returned to your side of the field in the next standby phase.

Now since you cannot use this effect on your opponent's turn, the monster removed will return on your opponent's standby phase.

Ok, if you have played this game for longer than a second, you will know that tuner monsters that special summon themselves are very good. There is nothing that says you cannot normal summon it too. Which in my opinion, makes it versatile.

But, while this card has that nice little versatility bonus, it does have a problem. The TCG rulings say that if D.D. Sprite is not present on the field in your opponent's standby phase, the removed from play monster does not come back. That does hurt the card very much since now you cannot use D.D. Sprite for a synchro summon without losing hand advantage.

But, there is one place that this card can shine. And with the release of the latest GX manga in march, the TCG will be introduced to Elemental Hero The Shining. The Shining and Elemental Hero Absolute Zero are two cards that are going to hit our meta with force. Absolute Zero has already been screwing around with opponent's for the last year with its ability to raigeki an opponent's field when its removed. But with D.D. Sprite, you can remove Absolute Zero for its effect, destroy your opponent's monsters, and get Absolute Zero back to be used again.

This card had so much potential, but Konami ruined what was a fun and splashable card. Give it a try anyway.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Review: Legendary Six Samurai - Kizan

Happy Valentines Day people! And what a better way to celebrate a day like today with a card review about samurais.

I was debating on either Enishi or Kizan, but i came to the conclusion that only a few people actually run Enishi, so thats pointless.

Here we have, The Legendary Six Samurai - Kizan!


This warrior type has 1800 attack and 500 defence. thats quite decent for a level 4 monster, but it gets better.

If you control another six samurai monster, other than a Kizan, you can special summon it from your hand. and while you control 2 or more other Six-Samurai monsters, this card gains 300 ATK and DEF.

So with 2 other six samurai on your field, thats a 2100 beater that you just special summoned. That is extremely impressive. With Gateway of the six, thats 2 more counters (which if you normal summoned a Six Samurai before, thats a total of 4 counters, which means a free search)

With 3 Kizans and 3 Grandmaster of the six samurai, you can just keep special summoning out the wazoo every turn (Incase you didn't notice, Kizan is Grandmaster when he was younger, just like Enishi is a younger Enishi - Shien's chancellor).

You can also use Kizan to synchro with Shien's squire (A level 1 tuner also released in Storm of Ragnarok) to make Legendary Six Samurai - Shi en.

Lets just put it this way. If you want to play six samurais and you want to be considored any good at this game, then you must max out on Kizan.

Which brings me to the price. Now that STOR has been officially released, Kizan's price has sharply risen from $30 (around £20) to $50 (around 30-35). Thats no surprise that it's worth this much.

So how do you beat it?

• Thunder King Rai-Oh: Legendary Six Samurai - Kizan is an inherent summon (Like Cyber Dragon)
• Solemn warning and Solemn Judgment: stops the summoning and they don't get any counters
• Black Horn of heaven: Same as Thunder King Rai-Oh but in trap form.
• Puppet plant: If they have not already swarmed the field and wiped you out, you can use puppet plant during your turn to take their kizan. But if i were you, i would use your puppet plant on Shi en to stop them negating your spells and traps with it.
• Negate their normal summon: Legendary Six Samurai - Kizan needs another Six Samurai on the field to special summon itself. Take out their normal summon and their Kizan/Grandmaster in their hand is a dead card.

The best nordic deck i could come up with.

VIEW VERSION 2 OF MY NORDIC DECK HERE




Hey guys. I've decided to devise a theoretical deck (i dont have the cards... yet) based on the nordics. I will explain my choices under the deck list.

The best nordic deck in existence.

Monsters - 18
2 Guldfaxe of the nordic beasts
3 Tanngnjostr of the nordic beasts
3 Tanngrisnir of the nordic beasts
2 Vanadis of the nordic ascendant
3 Valkyrie of the nordic ascendant
2 Ljosalf of the nordic alfar
1 Dvergr of the nordic alfar
2 Super nimble mega hamster

Spells - 12
1 Burial from a different dimension
1 Giant trunade
1 Monster reborn
3 Book of moon
1 Dark hole
1 Mind control
1 Pot of avarice
1 Mystical space typhoon
1 My body as a shield
1 cold wave

Traps - 10
3 Gleipnir, the fetters of fenrir
2 Solemn warning
1 Solemn judgment
1 Torrential tribute
1 Mirror force
1 Call of the haunted
1 Nordic relic megingjord

Reason for choices:
- Burial: Read my card review on Valkyrie of the nordic ascendant, and you'll understand why.
- 3 Gleipnir: Its an amazing card. It baits Mystical space typhoon and giant trunade, and searching for cards in your deck is always good.
- Megingjord: Im kind of undecisive on this card. It works on nordics and aesirs so it's rarely a dead card. It can be fetched with Dvergr too.
- Mind control: Why the hell not. If you have a guldfaxe and a level 3 monster, mind control their level 3 and synchro into thor.
- Call of the haunted: You're summoning extremely high attack monsters. that's why.

One thing i noticed is that i have no way of keeping a loki on the field if its destroyed. But there's only svartalf to use, and its a level 5. so no.

If you have any cards that you think i should change, comment.

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: Valkyrie of the Nordic Ascendant

Happy thursday readers!

Today, i want to review one of the nordics, since i haven't actually reviewed one yet. I was a bit undecisive but i finally chose Valkyrie of the Nordic Ascendant.


This little fairy tuner has 400 attack and 800 defence. It's a level 2 which makes 400 attack a little low, but it's effect is why you should run 2-3 in any nordic deck.

When you normal summon this card, if your opponent controls a monster and you have no other cards on the field, you can remove from play two nordic monsters from your hand to special summon two Einherjar tokens in defence position, which have 1000 attack and defence, and are level 4.

Now instantly, this effect should be screaming "Level 10" or more specifically "Odin" in your head right now. With Valkyrie at level 2, and the two tokens at level 4 each, thats level 10 in total. And now you have all you need to synchro summon Odin, Father of the Aesir. There is no easier way to summon him than this card.

Also, Valkyrie lets you remove from play any 2 nordic monsters for its effect. That could be Tanngrisnir of the nordic beasts and Svartalf of the nordic alfar, or whatever you want.

But, i think the best two cards you can remove from your hand are two other Valkyries. With burial from a different dimension, you can summon Odin, wait for it to get destroyed, use his effect to remove the Valkyrie you used for its synchro summon, and then activate burial.

Now you have 3 ascendant tuners in your graveyard, which means Odin can revive 3 more times. If you can pull that combo off, then your opponent is in deep trouble.

The only downside is that if you dont summon odin successfully, then you have just -2 yourself because of the effect of Valkyrie.

Time for a nordic decklist.

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: Maxx "C"

In storm of ragnarok, we got introduced to all the exclusives somewhat late in january. To be honest, the exclusives were not a disappointment. We can agree with cards like Chaos hunter, Vanadis of the nordic ascendant and Karakuri muso mdl 818 "Haipa", they are welcome additions into our game.

But personally, there is one that stands out the most, and thats Maxx "C".

Someone needs to clean their kitchen.

This little army of "C"s have united to become 500 attack and 200 defence. While that might not sound like much, you should never find a reason to summon it. For its amazing effect activates in the hand.

During either player's turn, you can discard this card. When you do, whenever your opponent summons a monster this turn after you have discarded, you draw 1 card. And to stop stacking, you cannot activate more than one each turn.

When i first read this card, i felt a little underwhelmed. I started thinking more and more if this card could be mained in most decks. but i took a step back and realised something:
Even If you get only one draw from it, you have replaced the discard.

This card is a +0 no matter what (unless you randomly discard it). But you should be activating this card against cards that special summon.

Im talking about:
- Debris dragon
- Lonefire Blossom
- Dandylion
- Frogs (Im looking at ronintoadin and fishborg blaster)
- Scrap chimera
- Level eater
- Dark armed dragon

Seriously, there is absolutely no reason why you shouldn't run this card. Most of the time, you might chain this to a card that special summons something, draw a card, and now your opponent has a tough decision to go into a synchro summon and let you +1, or leave it as it is.

But, this card can also be a dead draw, especially against gadget's, anti-meta decks and stun decks since they rarely special summon.

This card is incredibly versatile. Since you can activate it on either turn, it even works against their call of the haunted when you have just attacked. If you can get hold of one of these, or you pull one, KEEP IT. Like effect veiler, this card will get played more and more with age.

And that's that. Im seeing the price around $30 for now like some of the other exclusives, but it's so good its bound to go up.

And incase you didn't know, the "C" stands for cockroaches.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Review: Karakuri Steel Shogun mdl 00X "Bureido"

Its time for tuesday's review! (if i will actually do a review every tuesday from now on, i dont know) And recently i've been building Karakuri's and putting in all the new cards from Storm of Ragnarok. In this set, they got a card that can special summon when it destroys monsters in battle, a 4 star tuner and a better Reinforcement of the army.

We also got introduced to Burei's Dad. presenting to you today, and i hope i wont have to write this name out ever again:

Karakuri Steel Shogun mdl 00X "Bureido"!


This level 8 Machine synchro monster has 2 cool effects, and is similar to Burei. When this card is synchro summoned, you can special summon one Karakuri monster from your deck. And once a turn, when a karakuri monster switches position on your side of the field, you can draw a card.

Wow. That's amazing. it has the same special summoning effect like its son (or younger brother, IDK), which allows you to push for game or synchro some more. And with the release of Karakuri Muso mdl 818 "Haipa", you can summon Bureido, special summon haipa and dish out a total of 4900 damage. Add a Limiter removal into the mix, and thats more than your opponent can handle.

And i have not even started with the second effect. Since karakuris change positions, you will almost certain get to draw an extra card every turn.

Good cards to use for its second effect:
- Strategist: Special summon this card with Bureido and switch its position with its effect, bureido kicks in and lets you draw a card.
- Burei: His second effect lets you switch a monsters battle position on the field, switch one of your karakuris and draw a card.
- Haipa: After its attacked, it gets switched into its weaker defence position. but with bureido, you draw.
- Karakuri Cash Cache: It lets you search for a monster, then switches the selected monster's position. you can draw there too since the position change is the last part of the card's effect.

and all of the non-synchro karakuris get switched into defence position when they are attacked, so you will always get a draw on your opponent's turn.

But how do you get this card out? its a level 8 and it requires a tuner and one or more machine type non-tuners. With Storm of Ragnarok, We now have Kuikku and Saizan. With Saizan in the graveyard, you can summon kuikku, destroy an opponent's monster with it, special Saizan in defence mode, and synchro for Bureido in your main phase two.

Or if you dont want to do that, you can always just special summon a cyber dragon, summon a strategist and theres your 8.

Karakuri's, like scraps, have really come into their own with an intricate set of combos and with all this new support, they can go toe to toe with the Six Samurai next format.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Review: Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En

For my next review, i've once again looked at what i pulled/traded for at the sneak i went to, and decided to review it. I kept pulling the Six samurai commons, including a few Smoke Signals. But i dont plan on making a deck on them, so i gave them away. As i said in my Vylon Delta review, i entered twice and got 10 packs, and one of my last packs had this:
Legendary Six Samurai - Shi en

Allow me to break your deck...

Now before i even begin reviewing this card, i want to stress the space in between Shi and En in its name. Its there for reason and its still pronounced Shee-en regardless of the space.

Ok. This Level 5 DARK synchro monster has 2500 attack and 1400 defence. Which is a beefy offensive point for a monster of its level. It requires a Warrior-Type tuner and 1 or more Six Samurai non-tuners. That is probably the most specific summoning requirement i've ever seen on a synchro monster, next to something like Chaos Goddess (1 light tuner and 2 dark non tuners i believe). But the new six samurai can get Shi en out with ease.

It has two powerful effects: Once a turn, you can negate a spell/trap card and destroy it. Also, if it were to be destroyed, you can destroy another six samurai you control instead.

That is incredible. It has been created to be one of the most annoying monsters in existance. for your opponent to remove a monster, they will have to waste tonnes of resources. Konami really did not give this card a weakness unlike most cards. Your opponent will really be in trouble when this card hits the field.

The best way to get this card out is with Legendary Six Samurai - Kageki and Kagemusha of the Six Samurai. Normal summon Kageki and special summon Kagemusha with its effect and you now have all the materials needed to summon Shi en.

So why is this card called Shi en and not Shien? Well, to my knowledge, if you have 6 bushido counters on gateway of the six, then you can remove them to special summon one "shien" effect monster from your graveyard. Since this card is Shi en and not Shien, you cannot special summon it with Gateway's effect.

So how do you get past a card like this? Well, this card negates destruction by battle or effect, so thats not an option. Like many cards, caius the shadow monarch can take it out and dish 1000 damage since Shi en is a Dark attribute. If you have Solemn warning, you can use that when Shi en is summoned since it cannot negate counter traps. Or you can waste your hand and take it out with a smashing ground (after using another spell/trap that they have negated).

One card i do suggest using against Shi en is Goyo Guardian. If you can get their Shi en to your side of the field, then you can start using it against them and negating their spells and traps.

But when two Shi en hit the field, there is little you can do. We will have to wait and see how well Six samurai do in the coming weeks.

Like Vylon Delta, i pulled this card and i was being offered numbers around the 30 mark for it. I dont see this card going down in price so i wouldn't suggest selling it right now until people get desperate and start offering 40+ for it.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Review: Vylon Delta

A couple of days before the sneak, i reviewed Vylon Matter. Which is like a pot of avarice for equip spell decks. But apart from that, there was another Vylon card released as an OCG import (number 99 of the set). I entered twice and pulled it so i decided to review it.

Introducing, Vylon Delta:


This card is a level 7 LIGHT synchro monster and hits the field with 1700 attack and 2800 defence. Its effect is simple: During YOUR end phase, add one equip spell from your deck to your hand.

A synchro using 2 synchro materials is a -1 to you (-2 when the materials are sent, and a +1 when the synchro monster hits the field which equals a -1), but its effect means that before your opponent's turn, you will +0 at the very least. And its a good +0 since you will be getting an equip spell of your choice (rather than power tool's choice from 3).

And that effect might happen more than once with its resistant 2800 defence. With a defence like that and an attack like 1700, its probably better to keep defending with it rather than trying to attack. But if you do want to attack, then its a LIGHT, which makes it usable with Honest.

However, this card is overall a bad card. You need a tuner and a Light non-tuner to synchro into it. thats not too bad, but that stops it from being splashable. Its effect is rather lacking (for now until we get Vairons in a future hidden arsenal set) and players dont really use Equip spells as much as they used to. Also, even though its got a beefy defence, its got no built in protection so all your opponent needs to do it activate a smashing ground, and thats that.

So yeah, as i said before, i entered twice and pulled this card from my first pack. I read the effect and was disappointed, but a friend wanted it for his Loki, and i was just happy that someone actually wanted it.

Where would you see this card being played? With its non tuner requirement, i can only see this card being played in its own archetype and Watts, since they both utilise equip spells and are light. But with synchro decks nearing their end and most extra decks being 15 cards, there is just no space for this guy. Not now, not ever.

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: Vairon Matter

Today, i want to review a card that you are probably going to pull on saturday/sunday. It's quite decent and im surprised i didn't notice it before.

Its time for Vairon Matter!

Its dark matter, but more Vairon-ey...

This spell card has an effect similar to pot of avarice. You return 3 equip cards (The vairon archetype revolves around equip cards) from your graveyard to your deck, then draw a card OR destroy a card your opponent controls.

So, the card gives you two choices. An offensive and a defensive. Most of the time, draw power is more important than destroying something, unless you are pushing for game. And as for the cost, if you are using morphtronics, watts or Vairons, then it is a small price to pay for draw power or generic destruction.

But, the cost also means you probably shouldnt run more than one. If you run enough equip spells to be able to run 3 of these, then your deck probably sucks.

But like most of the commons of this set, i wouldn't recommend throwing this out.

Oh, and also, i heard that in the TCG, vairon has been changed to Vylon. I dont know why that's the case though.

My realisation on the new Legendary Six Samurai.

Since november, we had been introduced into the Legendary Six Samurai. Everyone including your grandma know that they're going to be huge. But after scanning through the new cards, for the 4-5th time since they were released. My fears were beginning to decrease.

I'm not saying they suck. But like many archetypes that are released, they rely on a single card to break them. All konami has to do is limit that one card, and that's the end of their reign.

In this case, the broken card is Gateway of the Six.

I have been comparing the new six samurai to when blackwings were released. With whirlwind at 3 and Gale at 3, the deck could swarm the field quickly and keep a fairly sized hand. The same applies to the new six samurai. With Gateway, you can swarm the field, gain counters, and increase your hand. But just like blackwings, When whirlwind was limited and gale was limited, it severely hurt the deck.

The problem with the new six samurai is that if you open up with no Gateway of the six, you can use Grandmaster and Kizan and Enishi to swarm the field, but you will deplete your hand to 0 instantly and all it takes is a dark hole or a sided warrior elimination to take you out. Because of that, i think the deck is too reliant on gateway and cant fend for itself without it.

Another example is Infernities back in may last year. Their Infernity launcher was outright broken, and it was released as a super rare, so it was accesible by anyone with a few dollars. Its ability to swarm with infernity archfiend allowed you to keep synchroing to free up monster slots (Mist wurm was really easy to make with the deck and opened up the field to OTK).

So in conclusion: The deck is consistent. It can produce mass plusses and OTK fairly quickly. But if your starting 6 card hand does not have a Gateway, then you are stuck for what you can do. If you decide to summon a few things then draw Gateway, then it will be a dead draw.

Oh and also, i keep forgetting to mention their synchro monster, shi en. Its too F****** broken and stops your opponent from doing anything. Just make sure to side some Caius to take it down for good.

Yu-Gi-Oh ZEXAL: Looks to be a pile of s***.

Yup. I caught my first glimpse of ZEXAL the other day: the successor to 5D's. I have been watching 5D's (subbed) on youtube and even though the story is completely random and still goes on about "friendship and bonds means i win", its still entertaining to watch. I saw episode 145 the other day and Yusei was dueling Bruno (Antimony). Bruno uses Tech genus cards which debut in Extreme Victory, which is the set after Storm of Ragnarok and releases into the OCG on February 11th.

So with 5D's finishing on episode 150 (Thats about 4 weeks of Yugioh 5D's left, folks), a new Yu-Gi-Oh follows. Which is called ZEXAL.

I have not read too much into it. But i know the story follows a character called Yuma who duels some bully from his school. And some crazy event occurs with some being called Astral.

To be completely honest, 5D's was surprisingly good because the characters were not 15 year olds. They were older and it catered to the older viewers (I'm looking at you, GX). But ZEXAL? It just looks to be a pile of crap.

and what's with the name? Aparrently, the X in ZEXAL is not said, so its just "zeal".

I will only watch this to see the new cards, unless its just like GX but set in the future. *shudders*