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!

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!

Future Visions: The Heroic Archetype

Now here's something a bit more interesting to read. I'm going to start doing a segment discussing the archetypes of the future. With more archetypes being pumped out and old ones becoming redundant in just a couple of sets, it's hard to keep up with them.

However, here's where I lend a hand. You can thank me later. Infact you can help me now by hovering your mouse on an advertisement on this blog and clicking it, but that's going off topic.

So I will use my current TCG superior knowledge to delve into the archetypes of the future and discuss their impact in the current TCG, the first being the Heroic archetype which debuts in Return of the Duelist.

Now there is currently only a few out with more debuting in the set after (the name of that set has not been announced yet). They mainly focus on helping eachother out and being overall quite cheap. They also have this annoying ability to boost their attack to stupid heights, allowing for OTKs and things like that.

Heroic Challenger Spartas

"Once per turn, when an opponent's monster declares an attack: you can target another heroic monster you control. During this battle phase, this card gains attack equal to the targeted monster's attack"

So yeah, off the bat it's already at 1600 and it can only go up. At long as you have 2 of these on the field, your opponent will have to summon something with 3200 attack to get over one of these. That's pretty stupid. And with 3 of them on the field, you're opponent will have to rely on removal to get these off the field. Add something like Safe zone on it and you've got something really nasty.

Heroic Challenger Warhammer

"When this card destroys a monster in battle: you can target the destroyed monster and equip it to this card (Only one monster can be equipped to this card at one time). This card gains attack equal to the monster equipped to this card by this effect."

So if you destroy something with 2000 attack, this card becomes 4100 attack. That's not too bad. It would be awesome if you could send the equip card to negate Warhammer's destruction. To be honest, it's not worth the effort unless you're playing a pure version. I'd rather summon something like caius with the tribute but at least Warhammer has the benefit with working with the other heroic cards.

Heroic Challenger Sword Shield

"During either player's turn, if you control a face-up Heroic monster: you can send this card from your hand to the graveyard; this turn, you take no battle damage and Heroic monsters you control cannot be destroyed in battle"

Now this can be compared to something like Blackwing - Jetstream the Blue Sky or Shien's squire, but it's better. Even if you don't have a heroic to protect, it's 2000 defence is makes for a good wall. It can help keep your monsters on the field so you have them for an Xyz summon next turn. I think that's probably why it was made. Not much else to say about this card. I wouldn't run it personally since there are better more meta cards that do a better job. Why protect your heroics with this when you can just mirror force your opponent's away?

Heroic Challenger Double Lance

"When this card is normal summoned: you can special summon 1 Heroic Challenger Double Lancer from your hand or graveyard. This card cannot be used for a synchro summon. This card cannot be used for an xyz material, except for the xyz summon of a warrior type monster"

I'm so glad they changed the effect. In the anime, it could be treated as two monsters, therefore you can Xyz summon with just this card! When i watched it happening, I couldn't believe how broken that was. At least now it's not absolutely ridiculous. So with 1700 attack and the ability to summon another from the hand of graveyard, you can smack your opponent for 3400 with 1 card, which isn't too bad is it?

For a heroic player, this is most likely worth playing in 3s with it's ability to xyz, just by summoning itself. Currently you can summon either their Heroic xyz or Number 39: Utopia, which is nice.

Now for the Support cards

Heroic Chance

"Double the ATK of one heroic monster you control. That monster cannot attack your opponent directly. You can only activate one Heroic chance per turn"

So with this, you can boost any heroic you control to a pretty high number. It's good that they took away being able to attack directly, otherwise it would be a little stupid. That being said, with that, it becomes quite situational since your need to have a heroic on your field, a monster in attack mode on theirs, and the agreement that your monster can no longer attack directly with it's now large attack. And by the way, that's permanent until the monster dies, not just till the end of the turn. At least it allows most of the heroics to get over most problems.

Heroic Revenge Sword

"Target 1 Heroic monster you control and equip this card to that target. After damage calculation, if you recieved battle damage involving the equipped monster: Inflict the battle damage you recieved to your opponent and destroy the opponent's monster that battled."

Ok this card is pretty terrible. It assumes that your monster is going to have to die to get this effect off. That alone is what makes it bad. You have to wait for one of your opponent's monsters to attack over yours before this card becomes useful. Even then, inflicting that little bit of damage back to your opponent is not worth it. Sure, their monster dies but do you know what would have saved your monster? Any half decent playable trap card currently in the game.

Now for the main card of the archetype. The card you have all been waiting for...

 Heroic Champion Excalibur

"Once per turn: you can detach 2 xyz materials from this card; until the opponent's next end phase, this card's original attack is doubled."

Here we are, the big beater of the archetype. It's also the cover card of the Return of the Duelist set. I don't really know why though. So it's attack doubles to 4000 with it's effect, making it 99 times out of 100, the biggest monster on the field. It's not difficult to summon either and since it requires 2 level 4 warrior types to summon it, it's not specific to it's own archetype either. Bubbleman Beat is currently using Blade Armor Ninja but this card can also be used to dish out some nice damage. It also keeps its boost until your next turn, so it's not an easy card to run over after you've attacked with it. In the archetype itself, you can just use Double lance to get the necessary materials on the field. You could also use something like Goblinbergh to get the first double lance out then summon this card. Then next turn you can summon another double lance and do it again. the artwork looks nice too.

So yeah that's the Heroic Archetype so far. They currently need some outside help to make them work but so far they have some potential. They wont cost too much to make either and there's always hope for some broken TCG Exclusive to push them over the edge.

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: Maestroke the Symphony Djinn

Hello readers. It's been 2 weeks but instead of dwelling on the banlist, it's time for some card reviews. Everyone likes card reviews, right?

Following on from my latest video on my channel, we have the Djinn archetype debuting in the Xyz Symphony starter deck, which is coming out half way through april.

Now, there are 4 Djinn xyz monsters that come in the starter deck. But instead of going on about each one, I'm just going to flat out state that Maestroke the Symphony Djinn is the only one talking about.

 The TCG picture is not clear enough on the Wikia, so this will have to do.

 Its a Rank 4, requires 2 level 4s and has 1800 attack and 2300 defence.

"Once a turn, you can detach a material to select one of your opponent's face-up attack position monsters; switch it to face-down defence position"

Starting with that part of the effect first. You get to use this effect up to 2 times which is not too bad. It can flip your opponent's monsters into a weaker position. Simply put, this card can get over anything with less than 1800 defence (That's a lot of monsters). You can flip a Zenmaines down and blow it up with a dark hole since it cannot activate it's effect and therefore dies right there. It's got a lot of uses and that's not even the end of the effect.

"When a Djinn Xyz monster you control would be destroyed, you can detach one of it's materials instead"

Now if we take a look back at the debut of zenmaines and gachi gachi, we know that being able to stick around is a really beneficial effect. If your opponent has a monster above 2300 attack, then you can use a material to keep it alive, then on your turn you can flip their monster down with the second material and attack over it. It's a really nice way to get out of a sticky situation.

How does it fare when used competitively? Well it can survive a Laggia attack and then kill it next turn. It can outright survive a dolkka with it's defence unlike something like Wind-Up Zenmaines. It can survive an Inzektor assault (unless of course they have a monster reborn or something). It's an all round decent wall and can help you gather resources for a few turns while your opponent is using theirs to get over it. Oh and it cannot be killed by a Catastor or need to use its materials.

 Best of all, it's generic.

There is no need to discuss the other djinns. They are decent but nothing like this guy, which is a shame. Until next time, duelists!

Jurrac Guaiba

Hey readers. Once again I apologise for the lack of consistency in my blog posts. As I stated in a previous post, I will post what I deem interesting rather than what has just been announced.

So after coming back from YCS Brighton, I did not get the chance to play any Rabbit Dino decks. However, there was one card in the deck that many decks can use without having to be rich.

Jurrac Guaiba is an interesting little tech card that works in the deck it's currently being used in quite well. It allows for the deck to make plays while waiting for a Rabbit or a Gold sarcophagus (whichever comes first, then the sackyness starts). All it requires you to do is destroy a monster by battle, and you get a free Evolzar Laggia in your main phase 2.

Note how it does not say "and sends it to the graveyard". Meaning that you can hit a token or a battle fader and you still get it's effect.

Like most cards, it falls susceptible to cards like Veiler and Maxx "C", so you will not get it's effect off 100% off the time, especially if you are playing a YCS level player.

But what I really like about the card is its general versatility. It CAN be played in many different decks without hurting the overall win condition. On it's own it can make it's own plays and you get a free Solemn Judgement (with legs) out of it. As soon as it hits the field, Guaiba is putting a lot of pressure on your opponent to deal with it quickly before it becomes a bigger problem. I mean, nobody liked seeing a first turn Shi en and 3 backrows (Warning, Magatama and Judgement) did they?

Another great thing I noticed about the card is it's general psychology that comes with the card. As soon as you see the card, whether you see it on a table in your locals, in a binder or on the Wikia, you know what it's being used it in right now. If you go first, Summon Guaiba and your opponent does not know what deck you are using, they will assume its a Rabbit deck, and most likely overextend to stop you. You can imagine their surprise when you start summon a lonefire and make some pro plays.

Along with the few hand traps that can stop this card, this card suffers the same problem as Reborn Tengu in that multiples are dead in your hand. But that has not stopped players running 3 of them has it?

So yeah. In conclusion, Jurrac Guaiba is a really nice little addition to almost any deck right now. It provides field presence and if you get it's effect, a free solemn for them to deal with on their turn. You can either play 2 or 3 copies. 3 copies adds consistency to the engine but 2 eliminates as many dead draws. I'm currently testing 3 in T.G. Plants (A deck I'm just messing around with) and it's working great. I can ditch the extra copies by One for One or use it with the T.G.s or spore for a high level synchro summon.


On an unrelated note, If you are a viewer of my Youtube Channel (I am more active on that than this blog these days, so Subscribe to it!) I am getting a new camera to film Deck Profiles and Duels. They will be in 720p quality and there will be none of that one-handed or having to balance the camera on the table nonsense anymore. That means better video quality, better content and overall a better experience for you.

- Kyle

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: Wind-Up Zenmaines

Greetings people. I've been struck down with the case of a cold so I apologise for my lack of updates to the blog recently. My target is to produce about 12 blog entries a month (around 1 every 2-3 days), so you guys can come back to this site with something new to read nearly every time.

Anyway, today's card up for review is the recently revealed TCG Exclusive, Wind-Up Zenmaines

"Come at me bro!"

This xyz monster hits the field at 1500 attack (Meh!), and a decent 2100 defence. 2100 is not very high in all honesty, but if it was any higher, it's effect might not go off so much. It also requires 2 level 3 monsters to summon it, so that's very good. Now for the effect itself:

When this card would be destroyed, you can detach an xyz material from it instead. Once a turn, during the end phase, when that effect was used this turn: destroy a card on the field.

So yeah, it's a decent wall that punishes your opponent for attacking it, or trying to destroy it. Since it has 2 xyz materials, you can save it from destruction and get it's effect up to 2 times. For those who do not understand, if the card prevents destruction twice this turn, you only get to blow up one card. But who is complaining? Not me.

The best defensive cards have always been ones that can sit in defence and pick away at your opponent without needing to attack (Total Defence Shogun, Destiny Hero - Defender, Big Shield Gardna for examples, but this card is better). Its unable to be destroyed regardless of your opponent's monster's attack power, and it's effect prevents your opponent from making a second big push 2-3 turns later.

This card does have some weaknesses though. Cards like Compulsory Evacuation Device, Dark End Dragon and most likely, Brionac, can remove this card from the field without having to destroy it. Also, this card needs to be on the field for it to get it's destruction effect in the end phase, so if your opponent can make enough monsters over 2100 attack in one go, then your wall will not be able to do much. Oh also, It's destruction effect is Compulsory. Which means if it's the only card on the field when it activates it's effect, it must target itself.

I could compare this card to Gachi Gachi Gantetsu. They both sit on the field, but Zenmaines can be used offensively. Gantetsu's attack boosting effect is nothing to scoff at either though (Used together puts Zenmaines at 2500 def!).

But, does this card actually help Wind-Ups?
Short answer: It does not. Long answer: It triggers the effects of Wind-Up factory and Wind-Up Magician, but thats about it. The card is actually difficult to summon in Wind-Ups, since they prefer their rank 4 and 5s.

Judging by the picture, it will either be a Secret or Super rare. If it's a secret, it's synergy with Tour Guide from the Underworld could push it up to around $30 or more. If it's a super, I would say around $10. Either way, this card is a nice addition to anyone's extra deck, provided they run enough level 3s.

My next card review will be whatever Exclusive is revealed next. Simply because they are cards that Konami creates with the intention of screwing up the game or to sell more packs.

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: Evolkaiser Lagia

Hello readers. It's been a while since I've done a card review. In addition, this post is my 100th post on this blog. Crazy stuff.

Anyway, today's card for review is Evolkaiser Lagia

Lagia says "no"

This Xyz monster requires 2 Level 4 Dinosaur-type monsters to summon it and hits the field at 2400 attack and 2000 defense points. That's pretty decent once you take a look at it's potent effect.

You can detach 2 Xyz materials from this card to negate the normal/special summon of a monster, or the activation of a spell or trap card, and destroy it.

Right off the bat, you can relate the effect of this card to Solemn judgment. The only difference is that this card does not cost half your life to use it. Like Solemn judgment, you cannot negate special summons from a card effect, like an X-saber special summoned by XX-Saber faultroll or a monster summoned by Call of the haunted etc.

But this card's effect puts some severe pressure on your opponent. The next card they play will most likely be negated so it depletes your opponent's resources pretty quickly. That means that bringing this card out later in the game will probably seal your victory. There are many cards to negate this format (I'm counting about 5 staple spell cards if you count the Pot of duality reprint, but that's my opinion). It negates your opponent's summon, so it can stop most floaters like Tour guide from the underworld and Reborn Tengu upon summon.

But thats not the icing on the cake. Its got legs. Once its effect has been used, it can go toe-to-toe with monarchs and puts pressure that way too. It really is one of the best control cards ever created.

Konami obviously tried to balance this card a little by needing 2 level 4 dinosaurs to summon it. However, there are ways to acquire 2 very easily. If you look at my previous post, i made a decklist around this card. The two main ways are Jurracs and Rescue rabbit. Either method allows you to make Lagia with only 1 card in your hand.

This card is by far the best xyz in Photon Shockwave, unless some broken TCG exclusive finds its way in there. I can see this card hitting £30/$45-$50 once its released in November.

Rescue Rabbit Jurracs

A thought came to my head. What happens when a rabbit with a whistle crosses the road with a bunch of dinosaurs?

They turn into dragons, obviously.

Monsters - 19
3x Rescue Rabbit
3x Sabersaurus (1900 attack normal dinosaur)
3x Kabazauls (1800 attack normal dinosaur)
3x Jurrac Guaiba
3x Jurrac Velo
2x Effect veiler
1x Gorz, the Emmisary of Darkness
1x Sangan

Spells - 13
1x Dark hole
1x Monster reborn
1x Heavy storm
2x Pot of duality
3x Mystical space typhoon
3x Fossil dig
1x Book of moon
1x Pot of avarice

Traps - 8
1x Solemn judgment
1x Starlight road
2x Spiritual fire art - kurenai
2x Bottomless trap hole/Solemn warning
2x Call of the haunted

Extra - 15
3x Evolkaiser Lagia (The heart and soul of this deck)
1x number 39: Utopia
1x Stardust dragon
1x Trishula, dragon of the ice barrier
1x Ally of justice catastor
1x Scrap dragon
Other synchros and xyz of your choice.

The main win condition in this deck is to summon Lagia. Its power to negate almost anything means its more broken than shi en really.

If you're super rich, then run 3 tour guides in this deck alongside sangan. that allows you to go into Leviair the sea dragon and use its effect to special summon a banished rescue rabbit and get a monster from your deck. Then you can use rescue rabbit to special summon Lagia. 2 xyz monsters (one that solemn judgments your opponent) all from one card in your hand and one in your banished zone. Thats pretty broken.

Heavy Storm and 3 MST

I'd like to do a short discussion on one of the biggest things to hit Yugioh in a long time. That is the inclusion of Heavy storm and 3 Mystical space typhoons.

This has caused a large contrast to this format, which has been known for being really heavy on backrow. You could essentially summon a monster and set 4-5 trap cards. That in itself creates a very steep uphill climb for the person going second. Because of that, this format has been called a "dice roll format" by many.

If you have watched the best decks this format, they all have their own way with dealing with backrow efficiently. Six samurai have shi en, Tengu plants can pick away at your opponent's backrow with stuff like Tengu and Ryko, and T.G. monsters can replace themselves in the end phase, plus they run Tengu too.

It meant cards like Horn of the Phantom beast suddenly become popular. It shot from a 25 cents card to a 3-5 dollar game changer. Cards such as that thrive in formats like this, where it gets you deeper into your deck and +2s (Provided you activated it at damage calculation).

But Konami, Specifically Kevin tewart, Decided to flip the table on what was beginning to become a normal routine and travel to the other side of the spectrum. He decided to unlimit heavy storm, and take MST off the banlist.

Now im a heavy storm fan myself. I think that with cards such as Starlight road around, it requires a little bit less "Herpa derp" than its brother Giant trunade. By that i mean, if you do use it and run into a starlight road, then you have dug yourself a pretty deep grave. Players complained that when heavy storm does successfully go off, it puts you in a really nice position to overextend and your opponent cannot just reset the traps from his hand.

As mentioned above, Starlight road is going to play a big part in decks this format. With Dark hole and heavy storm in every deck, this card has a lot of leverage to be able to fit in most decks, regardless of the playstyle. Gravekeepers may be able to stay afloat this format, provided they run 2-3 of them to protect their field spell.

However, Konami also decided to unlimit MST. This move is in my opinion, one of the worst decisions that konami has done in a long time. With mst at 3, traps are almost pointless. You will be unable to set anything and get its effect (unless its chainable) and Starlight road will have trouble keeping on the field to get you your free dragon.

But the main problem is that having MST at 3 means that so many decks (Think about diversity) become obselete. Gadgets rely on their backrow, as well as T.Gs and Gravekeepers. It means the game will become faster than it was already, and the only way to survive this format is to stay on the offensive constantly. This normally means overextending and trying to overpower your opponent as quick as possible. This also means that the best decks of next format are going to be the decks that can produce the most amount of power and advantage in the quickest time possible.

Now in context of myself, i plan on playing Lightsworns this format (see the video i posted a couple of days ago). With MST at 3 and Judgment dragon at 3, this deck can be incredibly fast simply because there is almost no resistance.

But with this change, many cards suddenly become a lot more playable. Battle fader might play a really big part this format since it will rarely get warning'd anymore and it can stop a huge push, allowing you to push over their push and win the game. Effect veiler suddenly becomes a lot more interesting now (it was already, but theres even more reason to run it now). I can see it being ran in 3s in some decks.

In conclusion, i feel that Konami went just a little overboard on backrow removal on the banlist. If they kept MST at 2, then it would have been fine.

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.

New decklist uploaded (Machina Gadgets) and New card text implemented

2 things that matter to me today:

Number one is this:

Number two is the new implementation of a change in the card text:

See the changes here

To save you time, the article states that:

• 'Remove from play' becomes 'Banish'
• 'Removed from the field' becomes 'Leaves the field'
• and 'when this card attacks a defence position monster, if the attacking monster's atk is higher than the defending monsters defence, inflict the difference as battle damage to your opponent' becomes 'When this card attacks a defence position monster, this card deals piercing damage'
• 'Selected as an attack target' becomes 'Targeted for an attack'
• All hero monsters now become HERO, and cards like Elemental HERO stratos can search for any card with 'HERO' (In upper case only), to make the new vision HERO and masked HERO sub-archetype less confusing when they arrive.

I personally welcome the change. And there will be many more to come over the next few days. Expect these changes to come into effect as early as the next structure deck (Which comes out in July)

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: Gurensaurus and Gachigachi Gantetsu

I apologise for not making a blog entry for the last few days. I've had some project involving other blogs on my mind at the moment and now that thats over, i am free to write on this one (My main one, of course. YUGIOH FTW!). As a big sorry note, i've decided to review 2 cards instead of 1.

And these are the other two Exceed (Now officially called XYZ in the TCG, yet pronouned Exceez) from the starter deck, Gurensaurus and Gachigachi Gantetsu.

Lets start with Gurensaurus.



This rank 3 fire type requires 2 level 3 monsters and boasts a meh 2000 attack and 1900 defence. 2 level 3 monsters was easier to accomplish when Rescue cat was legal, but there are other ways to get 2 level 3s (Like Tour guide to the underworld).

When this card destroys a monster in battle and sends it to the graveyard, you can remove one exceed monster on this card to deal 1000 attack to your opponent.

Like most FIRE types, its got a burn effect. Burn effects are not very good. I would have preferred that 1000 damage to be 1000 more attack on the monster itself instead, but thats a little too strong for a rank 3.

Unfortunately there is not much to say about this card. Even though the XYZ monsters are not out yet, there are already better options, like Leviath Dragon (which i will review in the future) which has the same summoning requirements. It would have been a bit better if it could remove the monsters and deal burn damage without having to destroy a monster in battle. There are many times where 1000 damage can end a game or make their face down Solemn warning useless, so its not terrible.

With that out of the way, we can move on to the second, and much better card from the starter deck, Gachigachi Gantetsu (it will probably get a name change, or maybe not)


This rank 2 requires 2 level 2 monsters to summon it. Its got 500 attack and 1800 defence, which is fitting since its a rock type. Its got a decent effect that can keep itself on the field and benefit your other monsters too.

If this face-up card would be destroyed (either by battle or effect), you can remove one of this card's exceed materials instead. Also, all of your monsters gain attack and defence equal to the number of exceed materials on this card x 200.

So upon summon (In defence mode, obviously), its got a solid 2200 defence, which is not bad at all. Also, your monsters gain 400 attack so your level 4 beatstick can go up to around 2200-2300 attack. And with its ability to stop itself being destroyed, its got a nice immunity from bigger monsters and annoying spell cards like Dark hole or Black rose dragon.

However, due to its bad attack power, there is no real offensive benefit to this card. You would only go into this card when you are forced into a corner and need to hold off for a turn or two until you draw an out. While it is easy to summon (Deep sea diva comes to mind), you would rather have summoned something else to take on your opponent rather than let him set up. Fortunately, with its ability to stick around a while, it gives you a nice tribute fodder for a monarch.

So that's it for the XYZ monsters from the starter deck. In my personal opinion, the only one that MIGHT see play is Number 39: Utopia due to its attack negation and ease of summoning, but over time there will be better rank 4 monsters.

5 x Bonds beyond time movie pack opening

Got everything i wanted, and then some.

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.

A Malefic deck

Hello people. I had the luxury of watching the latest yu-gi-oh movie on saturday. It was actually quite good. It had a lot of action and it was cool seeing the 3 main protagonists talking to eachother. Yugi still managed to get a couple of friendship speeches so it was all good. Paradox was a badass with his overly broken Malefic Monsters, which he contructed using the most powerful monsters over the 3 different seasons: Duel monsters, GX and 5Ds. All three characters got the limelight so no person was left with the short stick. I will be getting the DVD once it comes out in July.

Anyway, its got me wanting the cards that paradox uses, and i bought some of the movie packs, which i will make a video opening once it delivers :)

So yeah, decklist time.

Deck - 41 (It was hard to get it down to 41. Suggest what i should take out)

EDIT: Made some changes! It's now geartownified!

Monsters - 15
3x Malefic Cyber End Dragon (Free 4000 attack piercing beater)
3x Malefic Stardust Dragon (Protects your field spells)
3x Ancient gear Gadjiltron dragon (two is good, but i run three trade in)
1x Malefic Truth dragon
2x Meklord Emperor Granel (Things die a lot)

3x Machina Fortress

Spells - 20

3x Geartown

3x Trade in
3x Malefic World
1x Limiter Removal
1x Dark Hole
2x Terraforming
2x Mystical space typhoon
1x Giant Trunade
1x Book of moon
2x Forbidden Lance
1x Forbidden Chalice

Traps - 6
2x Seven tools of the bandit
1x Trap stun
1x Solemn Judgment
2x Solemn warning

Extra Deck - 10
3x Stardust dragon
3x Cyber end dragon
1x Chimeratech fortress dragon

Keep in mind that this is just a first attempt. I'm not going to be bold and say "This is the best _____ deck ever made" like i do with my other decklists.

I keep making changes and editing this post. If it changes too much, then i will make a new post with it updated.

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: T.G. Hyper Librarian

Blogger is so stupid sometimes. I made a card review a couple of days ago about Meklord Astro Mekanikle. for some reason, its disappeared. And its not a decent enough card to make me want to review it again. (I apologize to anyone who has been waiting since wednesday for a new blog entry).
So i'll skip it and move along to the 3rd and most anticipated Nationals Prize Card, T.G. Hyper Librarian

Draw power at his fingertips.

This level 5 synchro monster has got a very nice 2400 attack and 1800 defence. That's really good on a level 5, since with that 2400 attack, it can go toe-to-toe with a monarch if it really needs to, but so can Magical Android so its not a huge deal. The 1800 defence means it's a decent defence if it so happens to be switched into defence. For some weird reason, it's a DARK attribute. That makes it chaos fodder but apart from that i would have preferred LIGHT so it would work with Honest. However, it does not require any specific non-tuners or tuners. You can just summon it with Junk synchron or Alien Ammonite or Legendary Six Samurai - Kageki and Kagemusha of the Six Samurai. There are so many ways to make a level 5 its not funny. But like all synchro monsters, big or small in level, it needs an effect to make the -1 (Using 2 monsters) upon summon worth it. This one does not disappoint:

While this card is face up, when a synchro monster is synchro summoned to the field, you must draw a card each time.

Wow. It's got one of those effects where you would read it the first time and think "That's not great", but 10 seconds later, you suddenly realise how many decks can abuse the hell out of this card. With synchro spamming being a big win condition in multiple decks, this card says "Please spam your extra deck and i'll reward you for it".

Not only does it reward you for doing it, you also draw whenever your opponent synchro summons. That means that if you spam the field with this card, your opponent will have to take down your front line to get to your life points and to do that, they will have to synchro summon. They can't get to you very easily if you have a 8 card hand on the beginning of every turn.

So what cards can you use with this card? Those are the synchro monsters that let you bring out more synchro monsters quicker, such as the Karakuri Synchros (They bring out a karakuri from your deck upon summon). Obviously, you can use the T.G. Archetype, which specialises in synchro summoning quickly, to get large amount's of draw. Another great card to use with Hyper Librarian is Formula synchron which will probably be the most abused combo out there. When Formula synchron is synchro summoned while Hyper Librarian is on your field, you can draw 2 cards then if you need to, you can synchro summon into black rose dragon on your opponent's turn for more advantage. Then you will have a light and dark in the graveyard for Chaos Sorcerer. With Hyper librarian, there are just too many decks that can take advantage of it's draw power.

Fortunately, most of the yu-gi-oh community is anticipating this card will be banned in september, giving it only a couple of months to reign terror in our game. However, i personally feel with Exceeds debuting around the same time, the synchro mechanic will slowly fizzle away. People may disagree with me on that, but no more tuners are going to be made either, so it just seems to me that this card joined the party a little past due. Therefore, i think Konami will put this card to 1, but im not 100% certain on that since you only need 1 Librarian on the field to gain advantage. It's a bit like heavy storm in the sense that when it's around, it completely reshapes the game and you have to play with that certain card in mind at all times. If you know your opponent has this card avaliable to him/her, you will have to synchro summon when it's not on the field, and play defensively when it is. There is no other synchro monster that does that.

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: Meklord Emperor Granel

After much debate with myself, i've decided that Extreme Victory, Bar a few cards, is a pretty uninteresting set. I have been giving it mad props in my other card reviews but overall, its not a set that will be remembered for long. So this T.G. thing i was doing seems pointless. Therefore i will review other cards.

I've decided to do a good one today, Meklord Emperor Granel

Incase you didn't know, his attack is called

GRAND SLAUGHTER CANNON

This level 1 machine type has no attack and defence points. Thats crap and should be thrown in the trash because of it.

Ok i'll stop trolling.

It gains its attack from its effect, so theres no need to worry.

This card cannot be normal summoned or set. This card cannot be special summoned except by its own effect. When a monster you control is destroyed by a card effect and sent to the graveyard, you can special summon this card from your hand. This card gains attack and defence points equal to half your life points. Once a turn, you can select one of your opponent's synchro monsters on the field and equip it to this card and Granel gains attack equal to the monster absorbed. Once a turn you can special summon one synchro monster that this card has stolen onto your side of the field in defence position.

Look at that wall of text. I'm surprised that China is not jealous. Its got the normal Nomi clause at the beginning which is fine. And it can only get onto the field when a monster is destroyed (Face-up by the way).

I really like this card actually. I'm a little biased since i play scraps but it is all round a great card. With synchro monsters being the big beaters of most decks right now, its synchro steal ability is a powerful tool against your opponent. There are so many useful synchro monsters to steal:

- Stardust dragon
- Ancient fairy dragon
- Odin, father of the aesir (If you ever manage to do that, please make a video of it and post it in the comments. I would love to see the look on your opponent's face.)

Best of all, this card can snatch one of the most troublesome synchro monsters right now, Legendary Six Samurai - Shi en. If you special summon it to your field, you can negate your opponent's spells and traps. So now your Granel, which if you summoned at full life points, is at 4000 Attack, can attack without worry. Steal two from your opponent, and its pretty much game.

But you don't have to special summon the monsters. If you keep them on Granel, he gains their Attack. Steal a red nova dragon and it becomes 7500 attack!

However, this cards attack power gets weaker depending on your life points. If you get this out late game, it might only serve as an extra defence. Just make sure you get it out when your opponent is trying to push for game with synchro monsters.

This is also good because of the way the format is right now. Many call it a "Set 5, go" format and that means they are using traps to try and stop your every move. Bottomless? Granel. Mirror force? Granel. Dimensional Prison? Gra- wait no, He can't get on the field by that, but you get the point.

This card works best in a scrap deck. If your opponent is beating you down with monsters, then Granel is just a dead card in your hand. Scraps however, pride themselves on their ability to destroy themselves with cards like Scrapstorm and the just released Scrap Orthros. Because of that, you do not have to rely on your opponent to get Granel on the field and start nabbing their pesky stardust dragon which they were saving for the right moment.

Although this card is implied to be the best meklord emperor out of the three, Meklord Emperor Wisel is better. Since the beginning of the game, attack power has become more and more unimportant. Wisel has the same ability as Granel where it can nab synchros, but it can also negate a spell card once a turn. That makes it somewhat immune to annoying cards like book of moon or dark hole, which is a staple in every deck. Oh, and Wisel is not reliant on your life points, so it can turn the game to your favour no matter if you're beginning, mid or late game.

Granel is Legal for play in the US but is not legal in the rest of the world until the beginning of July. This is because of it being a Shonen Jump promo card from the magazine, which is only despatched and sold in stores in the US. This is also because it is one of the three prize cards (Which i will review) for the Nationals in Europe and South America which ends at the beginning of July. Fortunately for me, i can import Granel from the US when it becomes legal instead of having to win a nationals to get one.

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: T.G. Wonder Magician

Hello readers. To keep with the T.G. theme im reviewing one of their synchro monsters. No, its not that broken mistake of a card Hyper Librarian.


Todays card is T.G. Wonder Magician

Thank god this card needs a T.G. Non-tuner.

This level 5 synchro monster has 1900 attack points (That's ok) and 0 defence (Err, what?). I guess thats ok since you will find yourself with this on your field during the end phase, so at least it can hold it's own a little. But this card has 3 very good effects:

When this card is Synchro summoned, select 1 spell/trap card on the field and destroy it. When this card is destroyed, draw a card. And then theres the formula synchron synchro on the opponent's turn clause.

So when it hits the field, you blow up a backrow. Thats very good since it pressures your opponent to use a card they might have wanted to use on something with a bit more attack. However, if they do not have a backrow and you do when you summon this card, you have to hit your own, which is bad (Fortunately you only get to blow up a card when you synchro summon Wonder Magician, so at least you have some control). And if you force them to use their bottomless, you draw a card. If you run into a mirror force, you draw a card (Card trooper, Umad bro?). So this card has a nice bonus if something happens to it.

On your opponent's turn, you can synchro summon with this card. Its a level 5, so it's a little easier to reach those higher levels than Formula synchron since you can just summon a level 2 or 3 instead of having to tribute summon or waste resources and synchro summon. Like Formula Synchron, you can wait for them to commit to the field and synchro into Black Rose Dragon with T.G. Catapult Turtle or any other level 2.

So how easy is it to Synchro summon this card? Very easy.
you can use T.G. striker and T.G. Werewolf without wasting your normal summon or you can use T.G. Catapult turtle to special summon T.G. Jet Falcon and synchro that way too. Or you can branch out of the T.G. Archetype and use any level 2 tuner like Plaguespreader Zombie.

It really is an amazing card. In my opinion if it did not require a T.G. non tuner it would be on par with Hyper Librarian.

The best T.G. deck ever!

While i have not got a single EXVC card right now, i am interested in the T.G. Archetype that has debuted in it. I thought "Since the nordic deck got some attention, why not make a T.G. one?" And so here i am.

here we go, the best Tech Genus deck ever made! (With an extra deck!)

EDITED AS OF SEPTEMBER 1ST 2011 (FOR THE NEW BANLIST!!!)

Monsters - 18

3x T.G. Striker

3x T.G. Warwolf

3x T.G. Rush Rhino
3x Reborn Tengu

2x Effect Veiler

2x Cyber Dragon
1x Thunder king Rai-Oh (You just need to know when to use it)
1x Gorz, the Emmisary of Darkness

Spells - 11

1x Monster Reborn

1x Dark Hole

1x Heavy storm

2x Mystical space typhoon

1x Reinforcement of the army
3x Pot of duality

1x Pot of avarice

1x Book of moon

Traps - 11

2x Solemn warning (Or bottomless)

1x Solemn judgement (or Seven tools)

2x Call of the haunted

1x Torrential tribute
1x Starlight Road
1x Reinforce Truth
1x Trap Dustshoot
2x Mind Crush 

Extra Deck - 13

1x T.G. Wonder Magician

1x T.G. Hyper Librarian

1x T.G. Blade Blaster

1x Formula synchron

1x Stardust dragon

1x Scrap Dragon

1x Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

1x Black rose dragon
1x Utopia
1x Steelswarm roach

1x Trishula, dragon of the ice barrier (Or mist wurm)

1x Brionac, dragon of the ice barrier (Or gaia knight)


DO NOT READ WHAT IS WRITTEN BELOW. IT IS TALKING ABOUT THE FIRST BUILD I POSTED HERE. THE DECKLIST YOU SEE ABOVE IS A REVISED VERSION THAT WINS GAMES. JUST SAYING.

Right. This deck is designed to be able to synchro summon quickly and go into blade blaster if its possible. I think 2 cyber magicians is the best number because its useless if you do not have a rush rhino in hand to use it with (It can be used with other monsters, but only with Kinka-byo can you make something useful). The other T.G. monsters ive chosen have to be ran in threes though, there's no reason not to. They search eachother after being destroyed, so why not?

Next up is the non T.G. monsters. Glow-up bulb allows another way to synchro with rush rhino other than Cyber magician, and you can special summon it with its effect so you can get multiple uses. Effect veiler is a good card and theres no reason to run one or two in any deck. Im running two simply because i can get it with one for one and it fuels avarice quickly. Junk synchron is a must in this deck. If you special summon a monster with its effect, you can activate the effect of T.G. Warwolf to special summon itself and go into a level 5 or 6 depending on what you want. Cyber dragon is just an easy beater which the deck needs to get out of a tight topdeck situation. Kinka-Byo is good to summon formula synchron and get multiple draws out of Hyper librarian, and like junk synchron, it can get Warwolf onto the field with ease. Sangan can search almost every monster in my deck and since im running torrential, its a good card to blow up.

For the spells, we have the staple Book, Reborn, Dark hole, Trunade stuff. I've got 2 Mystical space typhoon to keep the backrows under a bit more control. This deck cycles through monsters very quickly, so pot of avarice is fine at 2. TGX1-HL is an interesting card. It allows you to half a T.G. monster's attack and defence and destroy a spell or trap on the field, so you can use it to dodge bottomless and blow more backrows. Its not 100% recommended to run this, but its the best support card they have in my opinion, and i like throwing support cards in the mix now and then. One for one is a very good card in this deck. There are many targets for this card and this deck special summons often, and you can fetch the sent monster back with junk synchron or Kinka-Byo.

As for traps. You have just a nice basic lineup of good generic traps. Torrential tribute is good in this deck since all of the T.G. monsters fetch another T.G. monster from your deck in the end phase, as well as doing sangan shenanigans. The best way to torrential is to special summon T.G. striker, special summon Warwolf and set torrential. So your opponent summons a monster and you +2 at least, as well as fuel avarice next turn.

The extra deck is very cramped with all of the necessary T.G. synchro monsters. You can just cut out halberd cannon and dragonfly entirely, but halberd's effect is very good since you can bring out something to take its place after it dies, and its a walking Trap hole/Black horn of heaven which in this metagame, hurts almost every deck out there. With cards like cyber dragon and junk synchron, you can make a level 8 and a level 5 together which is good. Scrap dragon lets you destroy your own T.G. monsters and search out for more. Chimeratech gives you an out against machina and karakuri decks. Trishula is just a random addition to the extra since its so good. Its a little tough to go into though. T.G. Power Gladiator is not really necessary but its a good way to put pressure on your opponent if they decide to defend with a spirit reaper or a ryko. But the Go-To level 5s in this deck are the other two, Wonder magician (which i will review) and Hyper librarian. Wonder magician is an outstanding card which does so much and without it the deck would not be half as good. Librarian is just asking to be banned, but with Exceeds about to hit the scene, synchro monsters might die down a bit so this card could just be at 1 and not be too damaging.

In conclusion, this deck is quick, moderately cheap (I suggest waiting a bit for the prices to set at the moment and the actual set to release) and brings out powerful monsters with ease.

Scraps: They're some good s***.

Hey. Here's my recently updated Scrap Deck. Once Scrap Orthros comes out, its going in.