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!

Swagbucks and Interplanetarypurplythorny Dragon Card Review

Hello Readers. Time for another card review. A certain German retailer managed to acquire a week early sneak peek kit of order of chaos and opened it, revealing us most of the exclusives that needed to be revealed. Some are okay, and there's a couple yet to be shown. Support for Wind-ups, Inzectors and Evols are given in the form of exclusives, so there's a lot going on in this set to be excited about.

However before i review the card, I would like to take the time to talk about a website called SwagBucks. You may or may not have heard of it but I link to it on my video descriptions and have placed it on the right of my blog posts in the 'Useful Links' section.

Essentially it's a point system where you use their search engine and complete other things on their website to get Swag Bucks. These bucks can be exchanged in their store for loads of cool stuff. It took me a while to get enough points, but I managed to get enough to get an amazon gift card. The reason why I'm telling you this is because all bucks i get will go directly towards buying Yu-Gi-Oh! products online to open on my Channel.

Click the link below to refer me and start getting free stuff. For every point you collect, your referral (Me) gets a point too. This means more points for me, meaning more cards, meaning more content for you to watch! All while you're collecting points yourself!

Click here and start getting free stuff!

Now onto the card review!

Today's card is Interplanetarypurplythorny Dragon.

What a name. That has got to be the craziest name ever imagined. Not even Super Nimble Mega-Hamster can compare to it. While the name is silly, it packs a nice simple effect too.

If a monster you control is destroyed by battle or card effect and sent to the graveyard: you can special summon this card from your hand     

That's it. It's not long, it's not situational and it's fun. At 2200 attack it can come onto the field and stop further attacks or start taking control of the field right there. It forces your opponent to think twice before attacking a face down with a weak monster. It also has the attack to get over some of the best beat sticks in the game: Thunder King Rai-Oh and Cyber Dragon.

And let's not ignore the fact that it can be summoned when a monster is destroyed by a card effect too. It's a great way to recover from a torrential or a dark hole or anything else your opponent likes to use to destroy your stuff.  It works great in scraps since you destroy a lot of your cards, meaning you don't need to rely on your opponent to summon this card.

Well apart from that there's not much else great to say. It really does it's job very well. There's no card quite like it. Now lets discuss the bad things, in the form of nice bullet points:

• Since it special summons from the hand, you cannot summon more than one at a time. Just like Tragoedia and the Meklords. However i believe you can special summon multiple copies during the main phase, like T.G. Warwolf and Dopplewarrior. However i need confirmation on that so I might be wrong.
• You cannot summon it when your opponent's monster is destroyed on their side. That would be so awesome if you could attack over their monster and summon this and attack directly for 2200.
• It relies on you taking a -1 before summoning this. If you have total field control and you would rather negate their dark holes or Effect Veiler their Black Rose Dragon's nuke effect, then it's just going to sit in your hand. However, the card's summoning condition is an IF and not a WHEN, meaning it can be chain link 2 or higher. If you don't understand that, that means that if you get your Sangan destroyed, it does not miss the timing, and you summon this card, then search (Sangan's effect is mandatory). I hope that makes sense to you.

Well. How popular is this card going to be? Only time will tell. It's a completely hit or miss card at this point in time.

I would just like to thank Konami for making this card a Common though. Such a useful card was sure to be at least an Ultra rare, but they finally gave the playerbase something that doesn't make them look greedy.

TheTCGLover Out!

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: Photon Trident

Now that Order of Chaos is here in only a few weeks, It's time to review some of the cards that are debuting for us TCG folk. I have reviewed many Core set cards, but we have known about them for a long time so they have been debated to death by this point.

Today's card for review is Photon Trident

 Photons have been getting a nice boost in the TCG exclusive department with Photon Sabre Tiger and Photon booster in Photon Shockwave. This card is another attempt to put them the tier list (It's too far for them to be tier 1 though. They lack the sackyness).

Quick play spell
Target 1 "Photon" monster you control. Until the end phase, it gains 700 attack and when that monster attacks a defense position monster: Inflict piercing damage. When that target inflicts damage to your opponent, destroy 1 spell or trap card on the field.

This card has a lot of different stuff on it, so I shall break it down and discuss each part. Firstly, its a quickplay that boosts a monsters attack, so it can be used when your opponent attacks you and the boost allows your monster to win that battle. Photon sabre tiger goes up to 1900 if it's alone on the field and 2700 if it's with another tiger. The photon monsters in order of chaos shoot up to around 2700 which is enough to get over most problems, or go toe-to-toe with stuff like Hyperion.

Next up, it does piercing damage. That kind of damage is severely underrated. Whether you've backed your opponent into a corner or they're hiding behind Dandylion tokens, there are situations where piercing damage can put some real pressure.

The last clause brings the whole card together. If you do damage with the monster, pop a backrow on the field. So the card itself allows you to get over monsters or trample through their defense, and you get to hit a card for your trouble. Simply beautiful.

Do note that the spell and trap destruction is mandatory meaning that you may have to resort to hitting your own. For example: You have summoned Photon Cerberus and set Photon Trident and another spell/trap card. Your opponent summons a monster and attacks your Cerberus. You flip Trident and your monster runs over theirs. Now that you have done damage, you must hit your own back row card since your opponent will most likely set their defenses on main phase 2. That is the main drawback to this card, aside from the fact that you can only use it on Photon monsters.

But in all honesty, it is definitely worth testing out once Order of Chaos is released. It's a really impressive card that can really net you and advantage.

In terms of price, it's hard to tell by the picture if the card will be a rare or a secret. I can see Konami making this one of the less desirable secrets of the set (The most being Tour Bus from the Underworld). So if its a rare, it's going to be a dollar. If it's a secret, it will be around 5 or 6  dollars.

Mystic Piper Chaos versus Dragunities up on my channel!

I now have a decent enough camera to record HD dueling!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jsqdccl1yhc&feature=channel_video_title


Make sure to subscribe for more duels and thumbs up if you like them!

I do a special thing that many yugitubers do not do and that is LISTEN.

If you want to see a certain matchup, then ask and I will see if it is feasible.

- TheTCGLover

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: D-Boyz

As promised, I'm reviewing the next exclusive to be revealed. It was announced yesterday evening, and boy, is it bad.

Introducing: the D-Boyz

 Fo' shizzle!

This DARK Fiend type monster is level 1 and has 100 attack and 1000 defense. There must be a cool effect to warrant running a card like this, right? Well, here comes the disappointment train.

FLIP: You can special summon any number of "D-Boyz" from your deck in face-up attack position. For each one summoned this way, you take 1000 damage.

So special summon 2 of them, and you lose at least a quarter of your life points. If you flip it during your turn, you now have 3 of them on your field to tribute them for whatever you want, whether it's Beast King Barbaros, Obelisk the Tormentor or one of the Wicked gods. And if you prefer to Xyz summon, you can make Galaxy Queen (Which also comes out in Photon Shockwave).

While I sound like I'm giving the card mad props, it's utter junk. 95% of the time, Flip effect monsters get flipped up by your opponent when they attack it. That means that 95% of the time, you will lose the D-Boyz getting flipped and be left with 2 on the field. And don't think that those 2 D-Boyz are a good wall, because you took 2000 damage, and they hit the field in attack mode. Also, since it's a flip effect, it gets crapped over by Nobleman of Crossout.

The worst thing though is that there are other cards in the game that do almost exactly the same thing, but better! Hero kid can special summon the other 2 copies by it's effect, and Naturia Cherries can get you the other 2 in defense mode (and they're tuners!).

At least it's dark though, so it's Dark Armed Dragon friendly.

Other than what's above, there's not much to say. It's a waste of an exclusive and a Secret rare, especially since you need 3 of them to use it's effect. I find the artwork funny since Konami usually focuses on history or futuristic stuff, but instead they have done a group of gangsters from the 90s.

It's price? It's obvious that it's a terrible card, but the power of a unique artwork can do a lot to a card's price. Before Tour Guide became a $120 card, It was $30 at the sneak simply because it had a girl on it. Now this card not only has a strange art, and you need 3, which always puts a card higher. Therefore i can see it being about $20.

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: Black Return

Hello once again readers. The next product to be released for us Tcg folk is the Duelist pack crow. This set has a large collection of Crow's blackwings as well as his synchro monsters and some of their support cards (As well as some cards he randomly used in episodes). Blackwings took a tough hit by the banlist at the beginning of march, so i wouldn't be surprised to see this set not sell as well as konami might think.

There are a few new cards in this set which have not been released anywhere else. One of them being Black Return.

This trap card has quite a good effect, which it's artwork portrays quite nicely.

Activate when only 1 blackwing monster is special summoned. Select one monster your opponent controls. Gain life points equal to that monster's attack points and return it to your opponent's hand.

So when you special summon a blackwing, you bounce a card and gain life points. Thats really good and there are many ways to benefit from both effects.

The first one is to bounce a synchro monster. As shown in the artwork, Bora the spear has been special summoned, and Naturia Barkion is being bounced back to the hand. While this would not actually happen (Barkion's effect would negate this card), its showing the perfect kind of monster to bounce. Incase you don't know, when you bounce a synchro monster, it is forced back to the extra deck since it cannot exist in your hand. So all of their hard work to bring out that synchro monster has been for nothing. It can also get past pesky cards like Stardust dragon which can't do anything to stop this card since nothing is being destroyed.

Apart from synchros, you can bounce cards that need to be tribute summoned, or cards that remove themselves from play when they are removed from the field (Like Plaguespreader Zombie or Genex Ally Birdman).

Its life gain effect is good too. If you hit a synchro monster like you should be, then you will be gaining at least 2000 life points, which can really help you pay for your Solemn warnings, seven tools and your Solemn Judgement.

This cards activation requirement is very easy to meet in blackwings (Which is one reason why they are so good). The artwork shows that Bora is a good candidate to get this card's effect from. You can use other blackwings such as Blizzard the far north, Gale the whirlwind and Vayu the emblem of honor (To summon a blackwing synchro monster).

I honestly feel like this is a really good support card that can really benefit blackwings. Its a nice little addition to an already overloaded archetype, but is actually decent.

Before i finish this, i would like to mention that you can also use this as a side against blackwings. This card can be activated when a blackwing is special summoned, let it be yours or theirs.

So yeah thats it. Its looks to be a really good card. Its going to be a Super rare (That will make the artwork look even better) like it was in the OCG set.

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: Aspiring Emperor Hope/ Number 39: Utopia

Hello once again readers. After looking on the wiki (If you don't use it, why not?) and it seems like the next yu-gi-oh related item to be released by Konami is the 2011 starter deck. This deck is no ordinary starter deck, it marks the beginning of a new era in duel monsters: Exceed monsters. This starter deck comes with 3 Exceed monsters and a bunch of the new protagonist's monsters (Which are not very good).

The starter deck comes with Yuma's ace monster, Aspiring Emperor Hope or as it's called in the TCG, Number 39: Utopia (Which i will call it from now on)

Exceed monsters look so badass

This Exceed monster is a Rank 4 (I'm going to have to get used to saying rank) and to exceed summon it, you must overlay 2 level 4 monsters on your field. It's got the standard 2500 attack and 2000 defence like all of the previous protagonist's ace monsters had. It's a light attribute, so it works with Honest and other light support. It's effect is pretty good:

When a monster on the field declares an attack, you can remove 1 exceed material from this card (Which you have 2 upon summon) to negate the attack. When this card is attacked while it has no exceed materials on it, destroy it.

So its got a good effect and a bad one. With a possible 2 attack negations, that can be the difference between surviving a swarm and losing to it. However, i would never recommend using both negations unless its necessary since you can just get attacked by a weak monster and it destroys itself (Meklord's don't mind that though). This negation effect is comparable to something like Necro guardna and that card's limited on the banlist. While it might not be as versatile as guardna, its still good.

The best part of exceed monsters is how easy it is to bring them out. They don't ask for a specific monster, just its level. There are so many level 4 monsters that can bring out more level 4s and bring this card out:

• Gravekeeper's spy: It lets you special summon any gravekeeper from your deck with less than 1500 attack, so just grab another spy and exceed summon on your turn.
• Batteryman AAA: While this card sucks in general, it is a level 4 that lets you special summon another AAA from your hand or graveyard, so thats all good.
• Summoner monk: Ditch a spell and grab any level 4 from your deck then exceed summon, without having to wait a turn like spy.

But the best way to get a bunch of rank 4 exceed monsters on the field at once is with the Gadget + Ultimate offering combo. All you have to do is activate ultimate offering, summon a gadget and add a new one to your hand. There you can just pay 500 life points and summon the gadget you just added to your hand and then you can get another gadget from your deck. Repeat this process and you will now have 5 gadgets on the field for the cost of 2000 life points from ultimate offering. You can just overlay 2 of them and exceed summon Utopia and since you have 3 left on the field, you can exceed summon another utopia. Now that you have freed up 2 monster slots on your field, you can just summon 2 more gadgets and exceed another utopia. Overall it cost you 3000 life points, but now you have 3 Utopias on the field and a gadget. With those utopias you can negate up to 6 attacks!

Because of that malicious combo, you can expect Ultimate offering to be limited or even banned come september.

So thats it. Exceeds are going to hit this game with its versatile summoning conditions and hopefully, their effects will rival that of the first synchro monsters.

I shall be picking up a few starter decks for myself, and i suggest that you do too.

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: Malefic Cyber End Dragon

Hey people. For today i want to review a Malefic card. It's arguably the best malefic card made, definitely in my opinion anyway.

Bring on Malefic Cyber End Dragon!!!

Zane would be too good if he had this...

This 4000 attack beatstick follows suit with all of his evil friends. It cannot be normal summoned or set and it cannot be special summoned except by sending its good half (in this case, a normal cyber end dragon) from your extra deck to the graveyard. There can only be one Malefic on the field at once and other monsters you control cannot attack. Also, if there is no field spell on the field, destroy this card.

That's alot of nonsense on a card. But if you run field spells, you can now run a powerhouse that can be special summoned when you need it. 4000 attack is a rediculous amount of attack power. Combine it with limiter removal and that's game.

It's so powerful that you will rarely ever have a reason to put it into defence position. It's mighty attack allows it to be chained onto Deck Devastation Virus to wipe your opponent's hand clear of weak monsters. But why are Malefic monsters getting good?

Simply, its the power of the newly unlimited Skill Drain. It allows you to negate the effects of all the monsters on the field. For Malefic monsters, that means:

- You don't need a field spell on the field to keep it alive.
- You can summon multiple Malefic monsters at once, and you can summon yours in a mirror match if your opponent has a Malefic on the field
- Best of all, you can attack with all of your Malefic monsters, and all of your non-malefic monsters!

This card is the best because you have to send Cyber End Dragon from your Extra Deck to the Graveyard. That means that you dont need to put unnecessary monsters in your main deck to bring this beast out. It also has Attack points on par with Malefic Rainbow Dragon, but you need to run a Rainbow Dragon in your deck to use that.

I hope to see someone take a Malefic deck to the top in YCS Charlotte, because they really are a force to be reckoned with!

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: 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.

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*

Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Review: Card Trooper

Hey guys. I'd like to review a card that has been in our TCG for a long time. Not as long as the beginning of the game, but long enough to be limited to 1 for around 3 years.

Today's card is Card Trooper!

This little machine type has 400 ATK and 400 DEF points. People might look at those stats and say "Wow, that sucks. Bin that S***". But its effect takes care of that.

Once per turn, you can send the top three cards of your deck to the graveyard to give this card 500 ATK for every card sent, until this turn's end phase. And when its destroyed, Draw a card.

Bam. Its a beautiful effect. It has something for every player whether you play competitively or not. Sending three cards turns this card into a 1900 beater that can get over most things. But the beautiful part is the milling. You just milled three cards, which is what decks like lightsworn and to be honest, most metagame decks out there love to do. And unlike lightsworn monster, you dont have to mill if you dont want to.

Second is the draw effect. No matter how this card gets destroyed, you will draw a card. And its not an optional effect either, so the timing cannot be missed. In my book thats a +1, and a beautiful one at that.

Also, this card works well with many other cards, here a few to name a list:
- Wulf, Lightsworn beast: Mill it with Card Trooper's effect and deal up to 4000 direct damage.
- Debris dragon: Special summon it with Debris Dragon, and since the milling in the first effect is a cost, you can use it! But you wont gain any attack points, Not that anyone is complaining.
- Judgment dragon: Another lightsworn, but destroy all the cards on the field with his effect and Draw a card with card trooper.
- Hell, any card that destroys things: I'm talking about Torrential Tribute, Dark hole, Lightning Vortex, Limiter removal etc.


But why is this card at 1? Well. The card is amazing as it is, but its not enough to bring it to one on its own. The reason why this card is limited is because when this card was released, people began to see it's potential with Machine duplication and Limiter removal (Two cards that were fine before Card Trooper came along). So Konami did the right thing and limit this card.

And they're right: Would you really want to be up against 3 of these pumped up to 3800 atk each?

The downside to this card is that it's a machine. And with Cyber dragon in many decks and Chimeratech fortress dragon in their extra deck to boot, they will take your trooper with their cyber dragon and -1 you. As well as around 2000 of your life points.

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: Vortex the Whirlwind

Hey. With 2 weeks left until the Sneak, im getting excited. Some people say that the set sucks, but i think its got a lot of really fun cards to play around with.

The Sneak Peek card, that is, the card you will get by attending the sneak, is Vorted the Whirlwind.

Blackwing - Vortex the Whirlwind...

Vortex the Whirlwind is a Synchro monster with a decent effect. At first glance, i was comparing the card to the failure that was Archfiend Empress, which nobody plays. But after the second glance, i noticed some useful cards that can work with this card.

It requires a Tuner and a Winged beast non-tuner and is a respectable level 5. The Winged beast non-tuner requirement hurts its playability very much. But there are 3 archetypes that can use this card: Mist valley, Harpies and Blackwings. The first two being Archetypes that are not played at all. So blackwings will be the only place where this card will see play.

When this card is destroyed in battle, you can special summon one level 4 or lower winged beast type from your deck. Its a bit lacking there, but it will do. It would have been better if it was any destruction (by battle or effect) then it would be much better.

Anyway, are there any easy ways to get this card out?

Well, in Blackwings (sorry if i keep saying that), you can Attack an opponent's monster with Blackwing - Shura the Blue flame and use its effect to special summon a Blackwing - Vayu the Emblem of Honor. Then you can synchro the two cards for Vortex and use Vayu's effect for later.

Right now, there are few Winged beast non tuners that are being splashed into decks at the moment. But when that time comes, expect this card teched in extra decks.

Oh also, this card can go toe-to-toe with Grandmaster of the Six Samurai and get its effect. Something to think about next format if you want to play blackwings.

Consistency: Why they're winning and you're not.

Hello Yugi fans. Today, in my spare time, i have decided that i should do an article on consistency, and why some cards in our metagame favour it and are ran because of it.

What is consistency exactly? Well, For something to be consistent, it needs to happen often and reliably. In Yu-Gi-Oh!, it is important to build your deck so that you have an "out" (a way to deal with anything your opponent throws at you) at any point in the game. this allows you to breakdown your opponents strategy and subject them to yours.

But if you play competitively (go to locals and attend regionals and other tournaments) or you want to, just remember one thing:

Most of the cards in the anime are inconsistent and should be kept in the anime at all times and not in your deck.

Now. How do you make your deck more consistent? Before even considoring that question, you need to know your win condition (what your deck needs to do to bring your opponent's life to 0). Then, you can build your deck to get to that condition Consistently.

Lets take an examples. Gravekeeper's used to be a control deck. they had a one-for-one removal with Gravekeeper's descendant and could shut down the graveyard with Necrovalley, which made cards like Monster reborn and XX-Saber Faultroll useless. But this deck was just not good enough. It was outcompeted by faster decks that could set up their win condition quicker. However, in Starstrike blast, Konami threw Gravekeeper's players a Consistency bone called Gravekeeper's Recruiter. It could search for almost any gravekeeper's monster when sent to the graveyard from the field. Players suddenly realised that you could search out Gravekeeper's commandant, which could search out Necrovalley. This in turn lets you run Royal tribute and deplete your opponents hand of monsters, while you can bring yours back with Gravekeeper's stele. So you see, with a little help from our friend Consistency, the deck now has a powerful Win condition which can be met quickly and often. This is why in YCS Atlanta in November, Gravekeeper's decks placed in the top 3 spots.

But in a more general sense, consistency can be aquired through certain cards. As long as you know your win condition, you can run 3 of any card that can help you get that condition.

Right now, i am running Scraps. Its a very fun deck, and it has a plethora of intricate combos and +1s at your disposal. The main win condition of this deck is to summon scrap dragon and blow your opponents cards away with its effect. While thats all well and good, Scrap dragon is a synchro monster and cannot go into your main deck. That means that i needed to build my 40 card deck that is dedicated to bringing out a scrap dragon as consistently and as often as possible. To do that, i have to run 3 Scrap beast and 3 scrap chimera as well as 3 Scrap goblin, so there is always a Scrap chimera to use. The only problem with the deck is that it relies on its normal summon often to get the ball rolling. All it takes is a Solemn warning on my Scrap Chimera to put me at a severe disadvantage. But i have cards like Scrapstorm (The Scrap's draw card) and Scrapyard to set up my win condition.

As for certain cards. The main cards that can help consistency are Draw cards. these serve little purpose in your deck but to make your hand more consistent. Allure of darkness lets you draw two and then remove a dark from your hand. At first glance, you may think that removing one of your precious monsters is a terrible idea, but your hand is stronger now and your deck has been thinned by two cards. and you can always remove a monster that does not quite fit the bill in the current gamestate. For example, lets say my opponent has a stardust dragon on the field. and in my hand, i have a smashing ground and a Blackwing - Bora the spear. I know that i cannot destroy stardust dragon with smashing ground because of its effect, and Bora does not have enough attack power to get over it. In my draw phase i draw Allure of darkness, i use its effect and draw two. Lets say i just drew Blackwing - sirocco the dawn and Blackwing - Kalut the moon shadow. If i remove Sirocco for Allures effect, i just turned that Allure of darkness into a monster that can help me get past that stardust. By using that draw card, you managed to get out of that situation and deal some damage, and your deck has been thinned.

But as far as draw cards go, the best one by far is Pot of Duality. I dont need to explain its effect, but it is by far the easiest way to increase consistency in your deck no matter what. Even though you lose special summoning for the turn, you have now got a much better hand next turn, which means that win condition your deck is aiming for is now so much closer.

I hope that this small article helped some people. Many people have been criticising that Pot of duality is too expensive. While that is true, the card turns inconsistent but powerful decks into Consistent ones.

I might do a few more card reviews soon when i get the time. Maybe when the next set comes out, because those Aesirs look awesome.

Storm of Ragnarok: Cards to look out for

Yes, i know. the release date for the next set is still a month away. but like starstrike blast, it has a plethora of interesting core cards that i would like to discuss. Storm of ragnarok (STOR) introduces new archetypes and support cards which are brand new and some which debuted in the anime.

• The Aesirs: These 3 gods have come straight from nordic mythology and STOR gives each different Aesir a bunch of monsters to synchro into it. Thor has the nordic beasts, Loki has the nordic alfar and Odin has the nordic ascendants. As well as that, there are many support cards that have devastating effects while you control any Aesir. But one of the best parts about the aesirs is that when they are destroyed, by removing the appropriate tuner (remove the one you used to synchro it), it special summons itself at the end phase and something happens. Thor lets you deal 800 damage, Loki lets you get a trap card back to your hand from the graveyard and Odin lets you draw a card. But thats not all. Each aesir has their own effects that can shut down your opponent.
• The Legendary Six Samurai: STOR introduces the Legendary Six Samurai sub-type. It is a bunch of new monsters and support cards which in the OCG, have pushed Six samurai to tier 1 (alongside blackwings and a couple of other decks). They get a new swarming monster alongside Grandmaster of the six samurai called Legendary Six Samurai - Kizan. As well as other cards, combined with the original six samurai cards (especially Gateway of the six which can create disgusting loops), this is the deck to look out for next format.
• More Karakuri support: Since Karakuri debuted in the newest set, Starstrike blast, Karakuri have consistent OTK abilities and an overpowered Synchro monster which you can bring 3 out very easily. But with the new support in STOR, they have just got better. STOR introduces new monsters and more support. A notable support card is Borrowed Karakuri house, which lets you add a karakuri from your deck to your hand, at the cost of switching the battle position of one of your karakuri monsters.

As well as that, there are interesting cards in particular i would look out for:

• Apple of Frigg, a normal trap card: When you take Battle Damage while you control no monsters, you can activate this card. Gain Life Points equal to the Battle Damage you took. Then, Special Summon 1 "Wicked Spirit Token" (Fiend-Type/DARK/Level 1/ATK ?/DEF ?). Its ATK and DEF are equal to the Life Points you gained from this card's effect.
• Tyrant's insults, a normal trap card: Tribute 2 face-up monsters you control. Neither player can activate the effects of Effect Monsters that activate on the field or in the hand.
• Vanadis of the Nordic Ascendant, a confirmed exclusive for the TCG: You can substitute this card for any 1 "Nordic" Tuner Monster for a Synchro Summon. If this card is used as a Synchro Material Monster, all other Synchro Material Monsters must be "Nordic" monsters. Once per turn, you can send 1 "Nordic" monster from your Deck to the Graveyard to change this card's Level to the Level of the monster you sent to the Graveyard, until the End Phase.

So there you have it. The three cards listed above is only the tip of the iceberg as far as hidden gems are concerned. If you want to see the set list, click here.