Blog has been Inactive. So I'm no longer posting.

A big thank you to everyone who read this blog over the course of it's life. I've been justifying the last month for why there's been no articles to read except the videos I upload. The main problem is that I enjoy that people are reading it, It's just that I don't feel like I have the time to keep doing it.

I want to produce a consistent blog that gives the reader new content every time they visit it, so there's always something interesting to read.

However, I just don't have it in me to do my Channel and my Blog. My Blog is easier to maintain, but the amount of Fun I get making videos and expressing myself through a visual medium means I've had to choose that.

Because of that simple fact, I just don't want to juggle both, alongside actual important commitments like University, my girlfriend, my general social life, and the amount of effort I put into the game in other ways outside of this blog.

I feel that I must end on a positive note. I am not closing the blog down. I am merely no longer posting on it. If anyone feels like they want to post on it in the meantime and get their voices heard by the 300+ visitors of this site everyday, then please message me over YouTube or just comment down below and we can discuss it.

If I ever feel like the time is right, I'll return to this blog and continue it. But for now I'll just let it sleep for a bit.

Thank you.

Why Pre-Registering is Important + Tin Opening

Siding against Macro Rabbit?

What do you side against this abomination of a deck?

- TheTCGLover

Europe getting "The Short Straw" in Yu-Gi-Oh!

Mirror Force or Dimensional Prison?

Sorry I've been inactive for a week. Last week for my university assignments so it was a bit hectic.

- TheTCGLover

Why is Macro Rabbit so good?

It's crossed my mind recently, and I thought it would be a good idea to talk about my feelings about why the deck has become really popular recently.

The most important thing when it comes to a YCS, is being able to have complete dominance over as many decks as possible. If your deck is only good against 6 other decks in the entire game, but those 6 decks are the only decks that will be present at that YCS, then your deck is suited to beat them.

That's exactly what Macro Rabbit is. Macro Cosmos is really good against Mermails, Dark World, Inzektors (since they need to mill to get their pieces) and if you can get it set up quickly, Agents too.

But Macro Cosmos means that your Rabbit plays are unhindered. Your opponent must have a set out to deal with it. If they Torrential, then Rabbit will get banished, ready to be summoned back by Leviair. It's basically saying "I just got shat on by an Elephant with Diarrheoa, but at least it's a sunny day today. Woohoo!"

More importantly, it means you can't get Veilered or Maxx "C"d when you drop your Rabbit. You can be on the constant aggressive without needing to worry. It also means that you won't need to choose between Laggia and Dolkka since choosing Laggia while Macro is up is by far superior than choosing Dolkka in that situation.

Of course, a successful deck needs other plays than the one it's built to do. Stuff like Jurrac Guaiba is still putting in work against Wind-Ups, Inzektors and other decks.

Until next time, TheTCGLover out!

The Astral Pack | An Honest Opinion

How do you feel about the astral pack?

Link to list: http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Astral_Pack:_Booster_One

- TheTCGLover

Dueling Network Vs YGOPro | Which is Better?

I apologize in advance for the imbalance of sound. What are you gonna do, eh.

Comment and Like :)

Making Non-Verbal Reads in Yu-Gi-Oh!

I just read an article on the United Gosus website. (Rodrigo I think his name was) was talking about how to make reads on the opponent outside of the normal game process itself. I'm not talking about "Oh he's set 3 cards, chances are one of them is starlight road", since that is situation dependent and doesn't require you to take your eyes off the board.

Like Poker (another card game I love to play), half the battle can be won simply by taking a good look at your opponent's attitude. Knowing how they act when they're bluffing and when they're not can mean the difference between winning hundreds and thousands and walking away feeling salty.

Here's a few examples that I feel are a good way to read the opponent:

1. Typical "Pro" habits.

This can be further broken down to the actual actions themselves. Most players shuffle their hand since they are told it will convey a sense of "Don't mess with me" to the opponent. While most of the time this works, it can't do anything against a strong minded and confident player. You don't need to constantly move cards around in your hand and not doing it can actually give your opponent a sense of security. Especially in a game where most hands play themselves, all you need to be able to do it play it correctly.

Another pro habit would be graveyard fanning, since all it does is allow you to check your graveyard in a redundant way. If you pick it up and flick through it, how your eyes direct to certain cards in the graveyard are not seen by the opponent unlike fanning it along the table.

2. Their eye movements.

While it's not an exact science, it's considered important to understand how looking one way depicts a feeling and looking the other way depicts another. If your opponent is currently on the losing end and they draw into a power card (dark hole, monster reborn), their eyes will shift a certain direction (Either left or right) and it will give you an idea about whether they are happy to see the card or not. This eye direction is generally the same for all people, due to either side of the brain governing different functions. One side means  "What I can do with this new information" and the other side means "I wish I drew (Card name) over the card I just drew". While it requires you to weirdly stare at your opponent, if you start to notice a trend, you can almost predict your opponent's plays before he makes them.

3. Passive/Aggressive nature.

During a duel, a person's posture or response time changes depending on when the situation requires it. If a person draws an immediate out, then they might sit up straight since they now have something they can do. If they are playing passive and building up resources, then they might be slouching. Of course that depends on if you're playing in a YCS setting since in a tournament like that, you should always be alert and save your slouching for in between rounds.

Another obvious way to read passive/aggressive nature is how they treat a certain monster being summoned. It's annoying having to deal with a Laggia, but the true annoyance comes when they set 3-4 backrows behind it. If they show a complete passive attitude to a Laggia Set 4, then they're either accepting defeat or they have the perfect out to it. Something like Fossil Dyna or Snowman Eater means they have nothing to worry about and if they are setting a monster on their turn, it's worth looking at their behavior to see if you can get any reads about what it might be.

4. Lack of "pro" habits.

Sometimes there's a fine line between excessive behavior in a game of yugioh, and actually looking like you have no idea what you're doing. Hand shuffling can be done by anyone and it's worth noting that. But what about if your opponent is making slow movements or is generally not fussed by what they have in their hand (as in, they are not bothered to check it and keep it face down on the table). Or what about if they have their elbows on the table?

How about when you summon a semi-popular monster (a floater like card trooper for example) and they have to stare at the card (Without picking it up) for a few seconds so they can remember it's effect?

It all shows a lack of confidence. I'm not talking about the person themselves not being confident, but I mean in the context of the game. A player that knows all the cards they are expecting to play against inside out will not show ANY lack of confidence since it allows for a way for you to get an immediate idea of how competent they are.


Seriously, there's a lot of different ways to read your opponent without having to even talk to them. All it takes is for you to scan them with your eyes and see them for how they really are.

Anyway. Later haters!

Inzektors win YCS Seattle!

Tag Dueling in Yu-Gi-Oh

Hey guys, TCGLover here.

I've been playing around on YGOPro somewhat recently. It was mainly because I was fed up with the sheer volume of incompetent players on Dueling network. Clearly the major flaw is that the program needs to be automated so that players are not whining to eachother. As of right now, YGOPro is still a little flawed in areas but overall it's giving me a lot of fun and not once have I had to say "eff" in the chat. Trust me, you don't miss it at all once you stop.

One difference that YGOPro has that cannot be compared to by the DN is Tag Dueling. On YGOPro you can host/join a 4 player game, with 2 players on each team, taking turns.

So if you win the Rock Paper Scissors:
1. You go first and can't attack
2. First opponent goes and can attack
3. Your partner goes and can attack
4. Second opponent goes.

You all share the same board and you all have a separate extra deck.

This could easily be implemented into real life just by giving each player their own colour sleeve, so that when the game ends the cards don't get muddled up. Of course that means your opponent can make a better guess about how to deal with the situation, but there's no other way to do it.

Another benefit to playing a tag duel is the advantage you get when both players play the same deck or archetype. You can synergise each others cards much better and situational combos go off a lot more often. For example one player can use 2 cards to make a naturia beast and the other player can make barkion. Normally using 2 cards in hand to make a synchro is a bad idea, but in this case it's not since the reward outweighs the cost.

Another thing to understand about playing tag duels in this way is how to optimise cards. For example, heavy storm will be live and most likely plus more than normal since both opponents will be setting cards. If you're going first, it would make sense to set your first turn heavy storm so your partner can flip it up before playing any cards and begin without having to deal with backrows, allowing you to maintain their field commitment on your turn. Simply put, going third or fourth means you are expected to commit to the field and take out your opponents field in a way that the person going fourth is going to have a hard time. That's only provided you can commit due to your partner who went before you actually knows what they're doing and gives you the right cards to use. That kind of strategy does not require both players to be playing the same deck, they just have to be conscious of how your end turn field is going to help your partner.


But the thing that annoys me the most about it on YGOPro is when they don't understand that giving each other cards is good. They make their own individual plays and against a total of 12 cards (from 2 separate decks with 2 different play styles), you should expect your field to not hold up at all. Setting monster reborn is allowing your partner to use it and make a wall for the both of you to sit behind if you need to.

Anyway that's all there is to say about that, check out my video below to see a video equivalent and what happens when your partner is a bad player.

Until next time, TCGLover out!

Thunder King Rai-Oh: Best monster in the game?

Hey guys. TheTCGLover here.

You've already read the title, and It begs the question: is Thunder King ultimately the best monster card ever created?

Lets take a look at it at first glance.
- 1900 attack, the best attack to be at for a level 4
- It's LIGHT. That means once it's died, it's still putting in work for you beyond the grave.
- It's not part of an Archetype. That means your opponent can't take it and use it with all of their Archetype cards (Like wind-ups).
- It can negate an inherent summon, which means that your opponent has to get over it by wasting cards.
- It shuts off Searching. To add to the previous point, if your opponent is looking for outs to this card, then how screwed are they when their outs are not currently in their hand?







But the best thing I like about it is that in terms of card advantage, it can be devastating. It will always one-for-one in terms of actual cards. But the new refined format of deciding card advantage means that this card is putting in work without you knowing it.

Bear with me while I explain it.

You have the normal card advantage, where if there are no cards on the field (for example) and you have 4 cards in hand to your opponent's 3, then you are currently ahead by 1 card. But the game has evolved farther than that.

What happens if the three cards in your opponent's hand is Monster Reborn, Thunder King and Torrential Tribute, while in your hand you have 3 Mystical Shine Balls and a dead Solemn Warning?

Your +1 advantage is not looking so good anymore, is it?

This is where Thunder King shines the most. A first turn Thunder King means that ANY and ALL search power is now dead until Thunder King is taken off the field. The Dualities, Thunder Sea Horses, E-Emergency Calls, The Agent of Mystery - Earths are all completely useless. While you're at 6 cards to your opponent's 6 cards, in actual fact you are ahead. All it took to accomplish that was your normal summon.

It goes beyond the "Lol no searching" application with this card however. The card's key strength really lies in it's ability to really hit the meta hard every single format. The definition of speed begins with the ability to SEARCH for your combo pieces faster than your opponent and be able to SUMMON as many monsters as possible. A first turn Thunder King is the most efficient way of giving your opponent and his deck the middle finger, while allowing you to make your plays next turn.

That's my reasoning behind why I feel it's arguably the best monster currently in the game. I'm not even mentioning the strengths against certain decks, because we all know that it puts in work against almost every single one, especially with Inzektors now off the radar again.

There is more to say about the card, but why bother? The stuff I've already mentioned should be enough to convince you of it's power.

Until next time, TheTCGLover out!

Feelings Toward the Future | Episode 2 | Disorderly March

Enjoy!

- TheTCGLover

How do you define a balanced card?

Here's something worth talking about. The concept of whether or not a card is 'brokensauce' is one of the most subjective topics the game has to offer. Sometimes a card is considered too good by a player when they repeatedly lose to it, which is 100% driven by a sense of 'butthurt'. That is, feeling the need to get personal closure by attacking a certain card in particular, rather than looking at it and understanding what it is about it that makes it so difficult.

Now, while there are very powerful cards in the game, the majority of the cards released in booster sets are outright unplayable. They offer no real benefit and if you manage to find the situation to use it, the payoff is not worth it.

But what this article is about is the middle cards. The very narrow sweet spot that very few cards can actually fill. These are the Balanced cards.

Personally, I define a balanced card as:

"A card that gives an advantage proportionate to the amount of effort and resources used to use it at a competitive level"

In Layman's terms, if it does too much in one card, it's not balanced. Lets take a look at a few examples:

1. The Gadgets

The Gadget trio are a fantastic example of being balanced and playable. Their best ability is to be able to replace themselves when they are destroyed. Im terms of card advantage, It's not balanced since you replace the card in your hand and you have the gadget on your field, meaning a +1 overall. However the gadget you have summoned on the field is incredibly fragile and protecting it is essential for it to survive to your next turn. Simply put, if you want to keep your initial +1 that you got from the card, you have to work for it beyond the actual summon itself. There are other factors that make it balanced, like having to commit 6+ cards in your deck to effectively use them.

2. The Monarchs

All the monarchs can be considered balanced due to their inherent issue of having to be tribute summoned. This means that in a normal deck, you are gambling your field presence by upgrading to a bigger monster, in an attempt to knock a card(s) off your opponent's field. Of course, these days they are not at the highest competitive level simply because of inconsistencies and their inherent inability to keep up with the decks that are not balanced. But aside from that, it's a great example of gaining a nice advantage by using a proportionate level of available resources.



3. Maxx "C"

In my opinion this card is balanced but yours may differ. I believe it is so mainly because of it's main problem of needing to rely on the opponent. But what it does which many other cards cannot do, is turn your opponent's broken tier 1 competitive powerhouse into a level playing field, where skill starts to come into the game again. Unless your opponent is a terrible player who got his/her tier 1 deck paid for by their parents, they will know to stop their summons after you drop Maxx "C". That is the exact reason why it's becoming more and more of a staple. You are discarding a card when your opponent would special summon (the condition and situation needed to effectively use it), and you draw when they resolve their effect (The advantage gained, which at this point is none).


There are many other cards that we all know that follow the criteria of what is balanced. All you really need to do to know whether or not a card is balanced is by asking yourself the definition i stated above. For example, Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning is Unbalanced due to it being incredibly easy to summon, and has 2 very powerful effect that give the player advantage without any prior thought process.

The great thing about that definition is that no matter how the game changes in the future, it can always be applied to new cards to decide whether or not whining about the card is actually justified.

Comment down below what you reckon is the most balanced card in the game. I have a few but I can't choose.

The TCG Lover out!

2x Ninja Grandmaster Hanzo Wave 2 Tin Opening!!!

Very pleased overall. The Tin is amazing!

Don't forget to comment, thumbs up and SUBSCRIBE!

YCS Providence Simon He's Chaos Agent Decklist

Here's Simon He's Chaos Agent build he took to 5th place. More notably, he went undefeated on day 1, which says quite a bit more since only 2-3 people accomplish that feat per YCS.

Monsters: 29

3 Mystical Shine Ball

3 Master Hyperion

3 The Agent of Creation – Venus

2 The Agent of Mystery – Earth

2 Tragoedia

2 Tour Guide From the Underworld

2 Spirit Reaper

2 Maxx “C”

2 Effect Veiler

1 Chaos Sorcerer

1 Archlord Kristya

1 Thunder King Rai-Oh

1 Herald of Orange Light

1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness

1 Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning

1 Honest

1 Sangan

Spells: 10

3 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Enemy Controller

1 Forbidden Lance

1 Creature Swap

1 Dark Hole

1 Heavy Storm

1 Mind Control

1 Monster Reborn

Traps: 1

Treacherous Trap Hole

Extra Deck: 15

1 Armory Arm

1 Ally of Justice Catastor

1 Gaia Knight, the Force of Earth

1 Black Rose Dragon

1 Stardust Dragon

1 Number 96: Dark Mist

1 Gachi Gachi Gantetsu

1 Daigusto Phoenix

1 Wind-Up Zenmaines

1 Leviair the Sea Dragon

1 Number 17: Leviathan Dragon

1 Temtempo the Percussion Djinn

1 Number 30: Acid Golem of Destruction

1 Gem-Knight Pearl

1 Hieratic Sun Dragon Overlord of Heliopolis

Side Deck: 15

3 Gemini Imps

2 Gozen Match

2 Electric Virus

2 Royal Decree

2 Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror

1 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

1 Effect Veiler

1 Cyber Dragon

1 System Down

Overall a very nice deck. 4 Agents made it into the top 16 so it looks like a great meta call. With the ability to churn out beaters with powerful effects, the deck has a great match-up against most rogue decks, which is something worth considering when playing 10 rounds with the possibility to play against anything.

Most Importantly, he decided to play a lot of hand traps, which says a lot about the game more than the deck itself. It's really important to be able to drop maxx "c" and veiler while being able to press on with big monsters. It's a really simple plan and it works really well.

Lastly, his Side deck made sure that he wouldn't have any problems against Wind-Ups (Gozen, Veiler), Geargia (CyDra, Chimeratech, System Down, Electric Virus) and Dark World (SIM and Gemini Imps). The other matchups can be taken care of with the already mained generic cards.

So yeah. Well done to the best duelist the UK has to offer!

TheTCGLover Out!


       PS. Buy this game, It's so awesome!

                     

I Hate Dark World

Seriously, I'm sick of losing to them. I've played them dozens of times and 9 times out of 10, I lose because of the exact same field.

I have nothing left, and they have 1 or 2 Graphas at 3000 each.

I'm sorry, but while the deck is very innovative and unique, the deck's ability to really hit the meta where it hurts is what gives it the edge beyond the point where it's unfair. But it's inherent ability to +1 whenever it summons a 2700-3000 beater and pot of greed every turn with it's field spell, means it can take down any Rogue deck with ease and most meta decks can't handle it in game one.

At this point, in my side deck I'm having to commit at least 4 cards specifically for Dark World matchups. If I'm playing Gravekeepers, then I'll use Gravekeeper's Watcher (Discard it to negate an effect that discards) since I can reuse it with Stele. But with Evols and Agents, I'm stuck using Gemini Imps and Shadow Imprisoning mirror, provided that I've already maxed out MSTs and whatnot.

It's the only deck that I can think of where a well thought out Side is the only real way of being able to come out of the match with the win. 4 out of 5 times you have to win your games 2 and 3 and that requires a consistent drawing of your sided cards at the right time. While the reason why they fall short is because "They lose to themselves" i.e. they have bad draws when the field spell is not up and they can open really badly, that reasoning only applies to a YCS setting where you are playing 8-10 rounds and your deck's consistency can really shine or shit on you.

But for Locals, Regionals and just casual dueling, the deck is outstanding. I know the rulings about how and when to use certain cards to beat them. For instance, I know that if you have MST/Dust Tornado set, you should wait until they banish a Fiend in their Graveyard for the field spell before chaining MST to destroy it, since Banishing is a cost. That can turn the game in your favour, but only for a turn or two until they draw another discard outlet and discard Snoww.

I put most of the blame on Grapha. The deck was inplayable before it, and Grapha gave the deck a huge push. It's the only boss monster in a structure deck where you'll get scolded by other players if you run any less than 3. It gives you advantage in more than 3 ways and that can't be compared to any other monster. The deck is built around it and that's why the best builds don't run Goldd or Sillva.

Regardless of how much I dislike that stupid card, It's not going to get hit unless the deck starts doing really well, which it wont simply due to the hilarity of the mirror match. But for someone who doesn't live in the US and their only way to play is by Locals and DN, Dark World is by far the number 1 most annoying deck to have to face.

I think it's time to take another look at my side deck before going to locals again.

The TCG Lover out!

YCS providence's top candidates

On a train back home so ill try and be clear and concise. With the next YCS coming up this weekend, we have almost next to 0 change in what to expect the best decks will be. Of course depending on the turnout, the amount of representation of a particular deck really helps it secure as many top 32 spots, where it really matters.

Of course having pro players piloting the deck among them pushes that chance tenfold.

So ideally it makes sense to look at what the best players are going to play to really get an idea. If they have all chosen to play grave keepers then it doesn't really help the chances since the deck is very linear. But a consistently good player will choose a deck that allows for some wiggle space when a scenario comes up and they have multiple ways to deal with it depending on what they're up against

Anyway my main prediction as to the top decks are wind ups, geargia and inzektors.

Wind ups due to their over saturation of players and mainly because of their showing in regionals leading up to this YCS. They seem to be claiming 2-4 top 8 spots in every one.

Geargia because there are some good players who have been trying the deck and I think this could be the YCS that really sets the good geargia players from the bad ones. However it's been a month and a half since the format started and the amount of side cards you can use to beat them is retarded. To summarise, any player can take game one, but it takes a good player to carry it through two and three.

I also picked inzektors because Billy Brake sets trends for fun. Everytime he does something, the playerbase hops onto his dick until he moves onto a new deck.

Anyway that's my prediction. My next video on my channel will be a video analysing the top 32 and downwards, most likely on Monday when I return to campus.

Stay pro, TCG Lovers!

Feelings Toward the Future | Episode 1 | Oyacorn

Hey readers. Here's my next video up on my channel. I've decided to group all future card reviews (On my Channel, not my blog) that are of cards that are not currently out in the TCG called Feelings Toward the Future.

Please comment below on what you liked/disliked about the video. It would be a really great help for me to take this segment in the right direction.

Radiant Photon Paradios | Card Review

Expect all posts to be shared onto my blog from now on. Please watch and give a like!

Noble Knight Decklist (Suggest Fixes!)

Here's a deck I've been playing around with, switching cards in and out and trying new approaches. Here's my first draft.

Monsters - 20

3x NK Artorigus

3x NK Gawayn

3x Alexandrite Dragon

2x Rescue Rabbit

3x Elemental HERO Neos Alius

1x Elemental HERO Stratos

1x Gorz the Emmisary of Darkness

1x Maxx "C"

2x Effect Veiler

1x Honest

Spells - 14

2x Gemini Spark

1x E-Emergency Call

1x Reinforcement of the Army

2x Miracle Fusion

1x Heavy Storm

2x Mystical Space Typhoon

1x Monster Reborn

1x Dark Hole

1x Pot of Avarice

2x Pot of Duality

Traps - 7

2x Solemn Warning

1x Solemn Judgment

2x Torrential Tribute

1x Dimensional Prison

1x Compulsory Evacuation Device

Extra Deck - 15

1x Blade Armor Ninja

2x Heroic Champion Excalibur

1x Maestroke the Symphony Djinn

1x Number 16: Shock Master

1x Number 32: Shark Drake

1x Number 91: Thunder Spark Dragon

1x Number 39: Utopia

1x Number C39: Utopia Ray

2x Elemental HERO The Shining

1x Elemental HERO Gaia 

1x Ally of Justice Catastor

1x Stardust Dragon

Comment on fixes or what you like about the deck. Once Ignoble Knight Laundsallyn gets put on DN I will find space for it.

TheTCGLover Out!

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: Ignoble Knight of Black Laundsallyn

Hello readers. The Abyss Rising Sneak Peek has been announced, and with that, the Promo card which you will receive per entry into the sneak has been revealed too.

Check out my channel on the right side of this blog to see the video. But if you prefer to read, then stay awhile and listen. Presenting, Ignoble Knight of Black Laundsallyn

"You can send 1 Face-Up Light Normal monster you control to the graveyard; Special summon this card from your hand or graveyard. You can tribute 1 "Noble Knight" monster: add 1 "Noble Arms" card from your deck to your hand. You can only use the effect of this card once per turn. You can only control 1 of these on the field at a time."

So by giving up a light normal monster, you can put a 2000 beater on the field. It doesn't have to be a Noble Knight so it does have versatility outside of the deck. By summoning it from the hand, you take a -1, but that's okay if you have to do that to get over their Thunder King.

Now you can tribute it or another Noble Knight to add a Noble Arms card. So far there's only one, Gallatin. It's not that great but I'm 99% sure that Abyss Rising will pack some Noble Arms cards as TCG Exclusives. Hopefully something that will make use of this card.

The best way to get it on the field without taking too much of a neg is by using Rescue Rabbit. It puts 2 monsters on the field in one card, then you tribute it to summon this, then tribute the other Noble Knight to add Gallatin. So overall you make back 1 of the two cards you had in your hand, and you have a 2000 beater on the field. It's not great but getting it on the field efficiently is the only way this card is going to find itself in any deck.

But once it dies, it's true power comes into play. It's ability to turn all normal summons into 2000 beaters is nothing to scoff at. 2000 is a magical number. It goes into 8000 four times and almost any normal summon can't get over it. So being able to summon this card over and over again can be devastating against an open field. It's just that initial "getting it out the hand and into the graveyard" means you should only run 2 of them maximum. 

So yeah, this is a very interesting card that will surely get better once we know what the new TCG Exclusives are. Definitely watch this space!

Good Side Deck cards for this format

Hey. It seems that there are a lot of people who may be having trouble understanding what cards you should be putting in your side deck this format, due to the increased diversity and many side deck cards not being able to hit a broad range of decks. While you can just look up pros on google and see what they have been siding, there is never a really good explanation for those cards. But there are other cards that may not be used right now. I'll go over some of them and talk a bit about each one.

Nobleman of Crossout

Strong Against: Geargias, Gravekeepers and Ryko

Nobleman has slowly started creeping up in side decks. Geargia's main search card, Geargiarmor has proven to be one of the best flip effect monsters ever made. It's inherent spamability with stuff like Book of moon and Karakuri Strategist means you can get it's effect off multiple times a turn. While Nobleman of Crossout only banishes monsters from the deck if they have the "FLIP:" effect, the fact that it kills it and banishes it means it can't be retrieved with Geargiaccelerator. And it's better than shield crush since if you hit a face down Geargiaccelerator, then you will have probably helped them more than you would have liked. Aside from Geargia, Gravekeepers creep up and Ryko in Chaos Dragons is one of their main dumping methods. If you hit the Ryko, they are forced to rely on drawing Lyla (Which is way slower) or Card Trooper.

Needle Ceiling

Strong Against: Wind-Ups, Six Samurai 

A few of the pro players have started playing 2-3 of these in their sides. If you analyse the most optimal wind-up play currently being used, you'll realize that before any xyz summons happen, the wind-up player will have 1 Wind-Up Shark, 2 Wind-Up Magicians and another Wind-Up (Either another Shark or Rat). That play will always put 4 monsters on their field and Needle Ceiling can clear the board. It's a really good example of a bad card suddenly becoming good just because of a player's tendencies when playing a certain deck. Six Samurai are not really likely to put 4 monsters on the board without making Shi En first, but after a resolved Double Edged Sword Technique, it may suddenly become live and generally, if you summon 3 monsters and your opponent has not activated their face down, it's most likely something that triggers in the battle phase or a bluff. You can imagine their surprise when they overextend by one more card and suddenly they lose it all.

Super Polymerization

Strong Against: HEROs, Gladiator Beast or any deck if you're playing HEROs

Every Omni HERO is out so no attribute is off limits for this card anymore. If your extra deck can fit 3-4 HERO Monsters, then it can really pay off running this card. It's no response ability against HEROs hurts them so hard. Chainable traps and spells are so good right now and to take their Gemini Spark target away or forcing them to Compulsory an Absolute Zero (you may see this once Atlanteans come out) is too good not to pass up. I mentioned Gladiator Beast because people still play that deck and when it works, it works very well. Super Poly on their Prisma takes their precious normal summon away.

Gemini Imps

Strong Against: Dark World, Gravekeeper's

This card can put in so much work. Cards like Dark World Dealings always sound like it's going to be a fair trade off. Well it never is and negating their card while replacing the imps is the best way to deal with their retarded Discard/Draw power. It's worth remembering that Sides like this are only to deal with those rogue Tier 2 decks you see on day 1 of a YCS. They will most likely only take 1 spot in the top 32, but if you let your guard down and don't have any sides against them, they will be just as potent as any of the Tier 1 decks. Losing to a Tier 1 deck now and again is fine, but losing to anything else and using "I was not prepared since it's not Tier 1" is not a valid excuse and it all shows up the same on the leader board.

Snowman Eater

Strong Against: HERO, Thunder King, Rock Stun

Another card worth having sided just in case of those random matchups you're not expecting. It's 1900 defense means against HERO, they will more often than not have to waste cards like Gemini Spark to get over it. Miracle Fusion will help them out, but not if they make anything other than The Shining. I put rock stun because they focus around 1900 beaters and their Xyz monsters will generally not be able to handle it either. Even Guardian has to send itself to negate snowman so at the very least it's a 1-for-1.

Maxx "C"

Strong Against: Wind-Ups, Dark World (Kind of), Samurai, Hieratics, Chaos Dragons, Agents

Any extra copies you are not running in your main might as well be in your side deck. It's been a great card for a year now. It hits a wide range of decks and combining it with Tragoedia is now the most effective way of dealing with OTKs. Slamming a 4000+ Tragoedia down after they have gone for broke will probably be enough to win right there. There are so many opportunities to chain it's effect that it's worth maining just as much as Effect Veiler.



These are just a few of the many good Side Deck cards of this format. Whatever takes Precedence in Rhode Island will determine how many spots in your side deck you need to cater to stop a certain deck. It's pretty common sense really, yet people are still putting crap like Warrior Elimination to stop HERO. It just doesn't do enough to warrant the space.

Until next time, The TCG Lover out!

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: Flashing Carat Dragon - Stardust

Hello readers. I hope you enjoyed my LC03 opening. I was thinking about what to post for the last couple of days, but then suddenly this surfaced...

What you are looking at is the manga equivalent of Stardust Dragon, called Flashing Carat Dragon - Stardust. While it looks identical, not just the dragon itself but it's level, attribute, attack, defense and type, it  boasts a different effect. 

1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters

Once per turn, during either player's turn: You can target 1 card on the field; that target cannot be destroyed this turn. While this card is face-up on the field, it's name is treated as "Stardust Dragon"

So how has this change in effect kept it worth reviewing? 

Well Stardust's ability to negate a card once a turn and come back in the end phase meant it was not a sitting duck after it had used it's effect. It could zip in and out of the playing field and stopped stuff like Zenmaines as well as another destruction card earlier in the turn. It's always proven itself to be a powerful tool that can seal games when timed correctly. 

But this card is different, it's not so much about quantity, it's about quality. You sometimes don't want your Stardust Dragon to be in the graveyard. You want it on the field to keep your life points safe. But Carat allows for it to select any card (Including itself) and stop it being destroyed. It means that if a card like, let's say, Dark Hole, activates: Stardust has to leave the field while Carat can just protect itself and any advance made that turn is useless since it can't be destroyed by battle either. In that scenario, Stardust is better when you have a field of 5 monsters, but if you actually managed that and didn't win last turn, then you pretty much deserve to lose your field.

Because of the way the game has become, it's not about amassing an army to beat your opponent to death. We have 2 Torrential Tribute, Mirror Force and Bottomless Trap Hole. All of these cards are played at their max numbers and overextending your field is just not going to happen. However being able to make a single 2500 beater that can't be destroyed will keep putting in work turn after turn.

And we haven't even started on the second effect. Because it's treated as Stardust Dragon, you can use Formula Synchron to make Shooting Star Dragon as well. You can also summon Stardust Xiaolong from your graveyard when it's summoned. It's not a huge deal, but it's better than nothing.

Seriously, I can't wait for this card to come out. While synchros are no where near played as much as they used to, many decks can make it and this card is absolutely brutal. If you've played against Constellar Omega on the Dueling Network recently, you'll understand how frustrating monsters like that can be.

Until next time, The TCG Lover out!

Legendary Collection: Yugi's World Pack Opening

Hey guys. Just thought I'd leave this here. There's not many openings on Youtube already (In english) so enjoy!

TheTCGLover Out!

A few notable Secret Rare cards from the Legendary Collection 3: Yugi's World

Posted on ipokem0ni's facebook. The BLS is from the Wikia.

They look so sexy. I might have to go and buy a Legendary Collection!

Six Samurai win YCS Indy (Indianapolis)!

I apologize for not making any blog posts for the last week. I've been settling into Uni and it's been a stressful beginning to a presumably stressful year.

But yeah. Six Samurai has won YCS Indy!

The pilot bested the force that is Wind-Ups, a more powerful force that has shown it's skill in the previous YCSs (Toronto and Guatemala). Sams has been considered a tier 2 deck for a while now but against certain decks (Especially Rogue decks), they can be very good. It's clear that the best Six Samurai players make sure their decks can access any of the 3 Naturia Synchros when they need them, which allows them to shut down the most important card type at that current time. Of course, Wind-Ups can access Shock Master for essentially 0 cost, but the card overall does not hurt Sams nearly as much as in the mirror match or against Burn/Countdown.

EDIT: Decklist found!

Monsters: 15

2 Legendary Six Samurai - Kageki

1 Grandmaster of the Six Samurai

2 Maxx "c"

3 kagemusha of the Six Samurai

1 Six Samurai - Irou

1 Six Samurai - Zanji

1 Legendary Six Samurai - Enishi

3 Legendary Six Samurai - Kizan

1 Elder of the Six Samurai

Spells 13

3 Six Samurai United

1 Gateway of the Six

1 Monster Reborn

1 Heavy Storm

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

3 Asceticism of the Six Samurai

2 Shien's smoke signal

1 Reinforcements of the Army

Traps 12

2 Solemn Warning

2 Compulsory Evacuation Device

2 Dimensional Prison

2 Bottomless Trap Hole

1 Double Edged Sword Technique

2 Musakani Magatama

1 Solemn Judgment

Extra Deck 13(?)

1 Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En

1 Ally of Justice - Catastor

1 Naturia Beast

1 Naturia Barkion

1 Mist Wurm

1 Ally of Justice Decisive Armor (Didn't summon it once)

1 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

1 Temtempo the Percussion Djinn

1 Wind-Up Zenmaines

1 Heroic Champion Excalibur

1 Shadow of the Six Samurai - Shien

1 Blade Armor Ninja

1 Number 16: Shock Master

Check out the Deck Profile below to see the side deck (Starts at 4:12)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dh_5UYzKakU&feature=g-u-u

YCS Guatemala 3rd Place Robert Boyajian Geargia Karakuris

Here's the Decklist he managed to come Third with last weekend.

Monsters - 21

1x Effect Veiler

3x Geargiaccelerator 

3x Geargiarsenal

3x Geargiarmor

2x Geargiano MK II

2x Giant Rat

1x Gorz

1x Karakuri "Nishipachi"

2x Karakuri "Saizan"

2x Maxx "C"

1x Neo Spacian Grand Mole

Spells - 8

1x Book of Moon

1x Dark Hole

1x Monster Reborn

1x Heavy Storm

3x Mystical Space Typhoon

1x Pot of Avarice

Traps - 11

2x Bottomless Trap Hole

2x Compulsory Evacuation Device

3x Dimensional Prison

2x Solemn Warning

1x Solemn Judgment 

1x Trap Stun

Extra Deck - 15

1x Black Rose Dragon

1x Karakuri Shogun "Burei"

1x Karakuri Shogun "Bureido"

1x Naturia Landoise

1x Fairy King Albverdich

2x Gear Gigant X

1x Leviair the Sea Dragon

1x Number 39: Utopia

1x Photon Papilloperative

1x Soul of Silvermountain

1x Temtempo the Percussion Djinn

1x Wind-Up Zenmaines

Credit goes to Alter Reality Games for posting these on their Facebook. I've noticed that you readers enjoy seeing YCS Decklists so as someone who wants to give the readers what they want, you will get as many as I can find.

Is anyone else feeling the Landoise? Pitching dead MSTs is pretty good if you ask me.

Until next Decklist, TheTCGLover Out!

3x Winner Angel Flores Wins YCS Guatemala with HERO + Decklist

Once again, he won with Heroes, thereby showing that above all factors, if you're a skilled player with a certain deck, you will do exponentially better than anyone else trying to pilot the same deck.

EDIT: I found the decklist! Alter Reality Games posted it on their Facebook. I'm showing it here without their permission but if anyone affiliated with ARG reads this blog and has a problem with it being here, then please feel free to let me know.

Here was the Top 16 Breakdown for that YCS.

5x Wind-Up

3x Dino-Rabbit

2x Geargia

1x TeleDAD

1x Infernity

1x Hieratics

1x Psychics

1x Heroes (Winning deck)

1x Agents

Here's the Top 8

3x Wind-Up

2x Dino-Rabbit

1x Geargia

1x Psychic

1x Heroes 

aaaand the Top 4

2x Dino-Rabbit

1x Geargia

1x Heroes

Dino-Rabbit had a mirror match in the Semi Final, meaning Hero and Rabbit played in the final. I'm surprised all 3 Wind-Up decks were knocked out of the Top 8, as well as Psychics. They both performed very well in Toronto so this is a completely opposite turn of events.

Until next time, The TCG Lover out!

Jeff Jones's 2nd Place YCS Toronto Psychic Grandsoil Deck

Hello once again. With the outright possibility of this deck becoming big and everyone netdecking it left, right and centre: I've decided to post his decklist and talk about the deck's awesomeness and it's shortcomings.

So yeah, the deck focuses around Earth monsters. Of course Archetypes which all have the same attribute will function better than just a bunch of random crap. Jeff picked Psychics even though you can do just as well using other Earth Attributes (Like Karakuri, Geargia, Gadgets etc.). Especially ones that synchro since it ultimately will put 3 Earths in the graveyard rather than just 2. So when there's exactly 5, he can drop one of his 3 Grandsoils. I feel that 3 is a little too much for the deck, but 2 seems too little. So with that it can stay at 3 since having too many is better than having none at all.

So with Emergency Teleport, the deck is capable of some interesting combos. Being able to summon a Psychic and then Teleport into Psychic Jumper means you can switch Serene Psychic Witch with their stronger monster and ram it, thereby allowing you to banish Esper Girl and bring it back on your standby phase. The whole combo allows for some nice draw power and puts Earths in your graveyard at the same time.

It's blatantly obvious that Maxx "C" and Card Trooper are amazing for this deck. The former allows for some insane draw and it's just a pro card overall. Add the fact that it's an earth that can discard itself to the graveyard means it's catered so well for this deck. The latter can dump up to 3 earth monsters from it's effect in a single turn, allowing for Grandsoil's summoning condition to be set up in just 2 turns (Make that a single turn if you discard Maxx "C" on their turn). He also uses Tragoedia which I've never really liked playing, but it does provide a nice defence in case you don't have Gorz and your opponent overextends. Gorz does a much better job and Tragoedia can sometimes feel like you're stopping an oncoming car by throwing yourself onto the road. Add the fact that it's a Dark type means that it's place in the deck might be worth looking into.

Anyway, another part of his plan is Miracle Synchro Fusion. He uses that late game to banish his stuff (allowing for more Graveyard Control) in order to summon Ultimate Axon Kicker, which on it's own is powerful enough to win games by itself. Plus it can be bluffed as a set card and lets you draw when it's destroyed, making it less dead than the first part of the effect would like you to think.

The rest of the deck is pretty much staples.

So yeah, it's a really interesting deck but I wouldn't expect to see it much due to the surprise factor now gone. But it's really awesome to see such shining innovation at the top of a huge tournament. It sure beats looking at the decklist of a Wind-Up Deck.

Until next time, TheTCGLover Out!

200,000 Blog Views!

I just noticed it a minute ago. I've had this blog going for about 2 years now, with some months having way more content than others.

I would like to thank everyone who's ever viewed my blog for getting me to 200,000. Sure it's not a huge number, but It's nice to know I have about 400-500 views a day (Even more when I feel like posting more stuff than usual).

More to come!

YCS Toronto Analysis

Hello Readers. With YCS Toronto just finished on Sunday, we have our first winner of the new format: Joshua Graham with Wind-Ups. He managed to take down ARG's Jeff Jones (Who's got a good number of titles under his belt) in the final and he was playing Grandsoil Psychics, a new deck that very few players were prepared for and took full advantage of the new cards in Return of the Duelist and the changes made on the new ban list.

Anyway starting from Top 16 (If Top 32 gets posted somewhere I'll add it in), we will take a look at the ratios and I will suggest explanations.

5x Wind-Ups
4x HEROs
2x Geargia
2x Dino Rabbit
1x Burn
1x Dark World
1x Psychics ft. Grandsoil

So with Wind-Ups taking almost 30% of the total top 16, they had the best chance of getting the win at this point due to sheer numbers. Wind-Ups really benefited from being able to easily transition to the next format by making just a couple of adjustments to their deck. The way the deck works now is much more bearable and actually incredibly skilled, provided your opponent is any good. And as we know from Plant Synchro, if a good player is piloting it, it will do bounds better than anyone else playing the deck. HERO managed to secure 4 places which gave them 25% of the Top 16. Even though their consistency got wobbled by the ban list, they still prove to be a force worthy of reaching the top tables in a YCS. However HERO is quite vague and Konami's writers didn't want to leak much more than "feat. Bubbleman" on the end rather than "Alive HERO" or "Bubble Beat" or "Gemini Beat" etc.

Geargia were the newcomers of this format, with them only being legal for 3 days prior to the YCS. They proved to be very powerful and resourceful by implementing the Karakuri Synchros into the mix. That as well as Gear Gigant X being a nice Advantage bonus once a turn gave the deck a lot of steam to use every turn. Dino Rabbit and Dark world are still hanging in there and Dino Rabbit were a lot cheaper to make which might have helped their numbers in Day 1. Burn always managed to secure 1-2 spots in almost every YCS due to it being quite easy to pilot and a Semi-pro's nightmare to face. The best players have no problem with it though and that's why it rarely gets past the top 8.

Top 8:

3x Wind-Up
1x HEROs
1x Burn
1x Geargia
1x Psychic/Grandsoil
1x Dark World

Well look at that. The Majority of Wind-Ups managed to hold on and secure 37.5% of the Top 8. That's increased their odds by 7.5% so their chances of victory was on the rise. HERO took the biggest beat. They lost 3 of their 4 matches and now down to just one left. Maybe this won't be their format, just like every other one (lol). Geargia lost a match which is acceptable since that's proportionate to the number of players being halved each round. They still stood a chance but personally anyone with knowledge of how many were going to be played at the YCS would have sides against them, and just like any other Machine deck, they are so fucking easy to side, making their effectiveness during the format gradually get worse. Dark World managed to hold out as well at Grandsoil, but they did play eachother in the Top 8 round and Grandsoil progressed forward.

Top 4:

Psychics ft. Grandsoil vs Wind-Ups
Wind-Ups vs Geargia

So almost all the 1 of decks were wiped clean off. Wind-ups once again managed to bring their win chances higher to 50%. Plus they were not playing against eachother so they were guaranteed a place in the Final. Geargia's one of in the Top 8 managed to win so Jordan Kornntoff who was piloting the deck was clealy a cut above anyone else who was playing it that day. Maybe a special Tech?

Finally for the Top 2:

Psychics ft. Grandsoil vs Wind-Ups.

So the one-of deck that was in the Top 32 managed to win every game and make it to the final. Since the deck was under-represented immensely, it should be applauded for it's stunning achievement. Expect Grandsoil to jump up in price (I'm guessing $40 each?).  There's not much else to say except to read the final for yourself. Incase you can't be bothered to, it was pretty much Shock Master that sealed game 3.

So yeah that's all there is to say. I'm glad the broken decks of last format have been phased out (I personally don't hate wind-ups anymore since they let you start your turn with a 6 card hand).

Until next time, TheTCGLover out!

Why Rabbit at 2 Hurts the deck HARD.

Hey guys. More Consistency with posts from now on, I promise. I keep taking gaps away from making stuff. Mainly due to commitments and other unavoidable things that just randomly crop up.

Anyway today is about the Banlist. More so, about Rescue Rabbit being put to 2. It's regarded as the core of the deck. Of course you can win without drawing a single rabbit the entire game, but it's an uphill struggle. The deck revolves around it being used and making a walking solemn or walking free divine wrath is too good to pass up. However at 2, it's consistency is hit harder than people realise.

At 3, the chances of drawing Rescue Rabbit in your opening hand of 6 cards is 39%. That means 39% of the time, you're opponent will need to have Effect Veiler in their hand or be going first and have an out to it set on their field. At 2, the chances of opening with Rabbit drop to just over 20%. That now means that 1 of 5 games you will be able to "Summon Laggia, set 3". Because of that, you might not even see Rabbit first turn AT ALL for an entire 3 game match. That's a lot of dino grinding against an opponent who isn't going to be relying on a 20% chance for their deck to function properly.

But the main reason why Rabbit at 2 hurts the deck is not because the chance of drawing it. It's because the deck has to play 6 Dinosaurs. If you bring the Ratios down to their simplest denominator, for every ONE Rescue Rabbit drawn, you will be just as likely to draw 3 Dinosaurs.

You may be thinking "Oh that's fine, I still have 3 Dinosaurs in my deck!". Well that might be true, but if you hadn't realised, Rabbit only works if you have 2 Dinosaurs with the same name in your deck. If you have 3 in your hand, 2 of those will have the SAME NAME.

What that means is that on top of the already annoying feat of getting a Rescue Rabbit in your hand, to be able to summon more than one Evolzar from a Rescue Rabbit, you need to have Rabbit as well as Tour Guide (which is at 2 now, too) in your hand just because you got a good opening hand. With Rabbit being 20% chance and Tour Guide being 20% too, you're bringing the chances of drawing like a champ at a measly 10%.

Beforehand, the chances were about 30%. So almost at least once in a 3 game match, you would be able to herp derp Laggia + Leviair + 2 Sabersaurus (2400 + 1800 + 3800 = 8000 damage exactly). Now, it's just not going to happen.

So yeah, I hope that's cleared up any hopes and dreams you had of your deck still being any good. Enjoy your hand of vanillas!

TheTCGLover Out!