F*** EXP on Qualifiers!

Here goes a rant...
------------------

Crap! Our official shop has just recently announced that, if it arrives by this weekend here, EXP2012 will be legal for our qualifiers at the end of the month.

How the hell can I shell out money to afford boxes in 2 days?? :( Tour Guide and Wind-up hell is coming.

PH Team Qualifier Tickets SOLD OUT

Only the first 32 teams to register are allowed to play.

Why only 32?

For the sake of the tournament format (single eliminations) given by Konami.
32 > 16 > 8 > 4 > 2 > Win

That means, if more teams would like to participate, there should be 32 more wanting to join to reach 64.

Now, 64 teams amounts to 192 players in all. If I remember correctly, the largest turnout here was around 100. It would take a miracle to get 90+ players more. But we never know what could happen, right? In fact, there's a waiting list after the first 32 teams where your team can queue up and replace a team in the first 32 if they dont show up on the day of the tournament itself or if there's a problem and they cannot join anymore. If it happens that 32 teams queue up in the waiting list, we might just see a milestone of 64 teams in the tournament! It really would be a long shot, but, positively thinking, what's the harm in queuing up and taking a chance instead of just giving up entirely?

This is why PH don't have team qualifying tournaments like other countries. Haha, its hard just to get a large amount of ppl to join. Plus, ppl tend to wait until the last day of registration before they would join. This is why many are ranting now.

It's funny. Ppl bought expensive promos for the team tournament but didn't bother registering for it early.
Haha, can I borrow those cards now that you can't use them?? :))

T-Report: Asia Format 10/7/12

It's the third tourney report in a row I'm writing about, haha, and sadly, it didn't end like all the previous ones.

It's sort of bigger than the rest also since the tournament prize was a Gold Box for the champion (not that much but better than what we usually have) so the player turnout was higher too. I didn't get to take note of how many exactly though but I guess it was around 24+.

Deck Used: Offering Machina Gadgets

4-round Swiss then Top 10 cut (since there were 3 seeded players, lol)

Round1: vs. Piper Chaos 0-0-

G1 = I made a GigantX and ended as I had a hand full of Gadgets. He summoned Cyber Vary and ended as well. That tipped me off that he could be using DSummon's new Photon deck or a Piper deck. I tried to take  the Vary for myself using Big Eye but he Veiler'd so I continued to push then nxt turn made a Shock Ruler.

G2 = He had Decree'd me early so I wasn't able to push hard. Wasn't able to draw removals till I drew Fortress. I had Shock Ruler but he took it with Creature Swap. I attacked it with Fortress but he used Honest so I got rid of his Decree and had all my traps online and won.

Round2: vs. Roy (Genex Mermail) 0-x-x

G1 = I set 4 and he took out a Compulsory with his set Abyssphere but I was left with Torrential, Warning, and Judgment. With these traps I was able to at least have both of us go to top decking mode. I drew and was able to make a GigantX and ditched both hand for Fortress and left him with 400 LP. He was able to make a LV7 synchro and he opted for Black Rose Dragon and ended. I drew a MaxxC and attacked with it next turn. If he made a Gungnir instead, he would've won.

G2 = Decree and got combo'd

G3 = Time was called. Made a Gigant X and ended. I didnt draw traps again. He set 2 cards. I need to damage him at least so I made a Maestroke and Fortress as I know he is running 2 Mirror Forces. He took all the damage and I was confident I'd win since I have a Maxx C and Dark Hole in hand if ever he has an answer to my monsters. His turn I used Maxx C then he used Ultimate Offering to make a Mist Wurm that bounced all my monsters. I discarded Megalo from his hand as he might be hiding a Salvage or Avarice in his set cards but it was Monster Reborn. I got OTK'd that turn since I didn't draw Tragoedia nor Scarecrow. :(

Round3: vs. Lightsworn 0-0-

G1 = He got Lumina+Garoth+Wulf+Gardna(mill). Seems perfect opening but I had Offering. Made Shock Ruler and denied all his monster effects.

G2 = Macro Cosmos locked him out.  

Round4: vs. Rock Stun 0-0-

G1 = He drew a Xyz monster and he conceded.

G2 = He traded his Koaki Wall for my MST and I just set my traps not summoning a Gadget. His turn he summonded a Gogogo Giant and attacked. It went to defense after. I summoned a Gadget and he used Skill Drain but I used Seven Tools for it. He didn't draw enough monsters compared to my backrow so I won.

Top12: vs. X-Sabers 0-x-0

G1 = Black Corn on his Emmersblade, saved my BTH for Faultrol, and it was smooth sailing.

G2 = He got me denied of my Gadgets with Saber Hole and didn't drew another copy while he kept attacking with Boggart. He made Shien with his Hermit and Pashuul and it was gg

G3 = Macro Cosmos and Mind Crush locked him down.

Top8: vs. Rock Stun 0-0-

G1 = His Grand Mole kept attacking to my monsters as he didn't have any choice so I won eventually thru advantage.

G2 = He kept on negating my Gadgets with Koaki Guardian but I have Call of the Haunteds so I still have the advantage.

Top4: vs. TG Agents x-0-x

G1 = I got him running with only 1200 LP left while using only Photon Slasher coz I didnt draw any Gadgets. Somehow he got rid of it and I didn't draw any Gadget at all. :( I had Double Summons ready if ever I was able to draw 1.

G2 = Used Deck Devastation Virus on him on his 1st turn and killed the infield Balls (Venus eff) and a Werewolf. I knew all his cards for the next 3 turns so I won with playing around them.

G3 = Made GigantoX but got no traps but had Maxx C. He summons Cyber Dragon. Ditched Maxx C. He made Chimeratech, Venus + 3 balls + Xyz into Gachi + BLS. I drew like 6 cards but didn't get Tragoedia or Scarecrow again. :( wtf is with my dumb luck.

So in the end, I felt bad about my loss. Not drawing Trago nor Scarecrow when your opponent disregarded good logic against Maxx C is so retarded. It's like dumb luck is rewarding those players who just continued with their OTK while thinking they don't care about Trago, Gorz, Fader, or Scarecrow. 

T-Report: New Asia Format 10/6/12

Goodnews:  Finally we can now get to use promo cards in our Asia Format.

Badnews:   I'll be returning to the provinces again tomorrow for my flight training. I'll miss Yugioh again and a stable internet connection.

So before I go, I'll want to practice my deck setup for the team tournament qualifier this end of October. I won't be able to practice irl again. Well, I think I can get to join a tournament before I travel tomorrow.

Deck Used: Offering Machina Gadget
Participants: 16
Single Eliminations

Round1: vs. Chaos Dragons 0-x-0
G1 = He summoned Lyla and ended to milled cards including a Zephyros. I drew 3 Gadgets, a trap, mst, and Trago. I summon a Gadget and ended. He summoned Debris Dragon and revived something. He summoned Light Pulsar Dragon next and synchro'd a Trident Dragion. wtf. He revived Zephyros and used Trident's effect. Luckily, I had that Tragoedia so I didnt get killed that turn. I have lots of advantage by then so I won eventually.
G2 = Time was called and I lost in the end, so...
G3 = Last 3 turns, but I had Inverz Roach on my 1st turn so got super control of the game.

Round2: vs. Anti-Meta 0-x-0
G1 = Expected him to have Raioh. Reserved my Dark Hole for it and my MSTs to his set cards before that.
G2 = Didn't know he uses Emergency Teleport so I ate a Black Rose Dragon, then a Wisel. lol, shouldn't have sided out my Starlight Road.
G3 = Ultimate Offering. nuff said

Round3: vs. Black Feather 0-0-
G1 = Was able to use Ultimate Offering on his turn. Summoned 3 Gadgets then he SS'd Gale to make Black Rose Dragon at MP2 and wiped the board along with his traps. Got advantage so I won eventually.
G2 = Ultimate Offering + Limiter Removal. Sorry man. haha

Finals: vs. Chaos Lightsworn x-0-0
G1 = Got Storm'd and he summoned Pulsar, Judgment Dragon, and Red Eyes.
G2 = Poor mills for him. Used Black Corn on his Card Trooper. He didn't get his grave running.
G3 = He summoned Trooper and milled mediocre. Used Black Corn on it again and set Mind Crush, Macro Cosmos, and Prison. Used Crush on his turn and called Storm. He doesnt have it and I saw Red eyes, Dark Flare, Trago, Plague, Judgment Dragon and Foolish Burial. He discarded my Gadget. He used Foolish, I chained Macro. He made Black Rose Dragon with Pulsar and Plague. We went to top decking as time was called. I won when he cannot get over my Utopia and Inverz Roach.


Got lots of side against the mirror but didn't meet any today so hopefully I can get to do so tomorrow.
Thanks for reading!

T-Report: Old Asia Format 9/30/12

I say Old Asia format since until now we aren't allowed to use promo cards. Hope we can get to do so for the team tournament qualifier this end of October. Tried Gadgets so I can have a good feel if it is valid for me to use in the coming qualifiers.

Deck Used: Offering Machina Gadgets
Participants: 16
Single Eliminations

Round1: BYE. opp didnt show up. Lucky to have free win. Unlucky to get no practice

Round2: vs. Chiro Morillo (Six Samurai) 0-0-
G1 = No 1st turn Shien but he used a lot of Fiendish Chains. He misplayed with his Heavy Storm (3-2 exchange, his loss) which enabled my Chain'd Fortress to move again.
G2 = He ended with only a set card. Me did the same (Ultimate Offering). He used Gateway and United and used Ascetism with his normal summoned Hermit. I activated my f/d Offering before he had a Shien and used MaxxC. I drew 10 cards with him completing a field of Excalibur, 2 Kizans, Shien, Grandma. He attacked but I summoned a 6000 ATK Trago, gg.

Round3: vs. Vincent Lim (Agents) X-0-0
G1 = Both of us were farming 5-6 cards in hand while still able to commit considerably on the field. But in the end I was the one who first got to spend more cards early since a Catastor and Hyperion is hard to kill without Dark Hole.
G2 = Venus+Gachi got over my Gearframe. I killed Venus back with Photon Slasher, summon Gadget, then made a Maestroke to defend. Both of us had def monsters and it went back and forth but I think he had subpar draws so I got game.
G3 = Venus+Gachi but killed by Photon Slasher again, lol. Slasher is a success, haha. I set 2, he used Storm, I chain Complusory to get rid of his Gachi. Tried to push for game a few turns after and won. Looks like he got no more monsters to press with.

Finals: vs. Brian (Chaos(?) Machina Gadget) 0-0-
G1 = He set a Ryko, it destroyed my f/d. Though it was a tech but next he summoned a BLS to directly attack me but I summoned a 3000 atk Tragoedia. Nxt turn it went over BLS and it was smooth sailing to victory.
G2 = He used Mind Crush to send my Green Gadget to GY but I had a Red Gadget and Ultimate Offerring. He bluffed two cards f/d but I pushed and got game.

My impressions of today:
-Photon Slasher owns. haha. Kills a lot of turn1 biggies like Venus, Kizan, Gearframe
-Mirror Force is so good.
-Gagaga Gunman! haha, its not safe to leave 500 LP when paying for Ultimate Offering.
-Tried to use Chaos Hope to end the finals but fail. No achievement. :(

Pros of the deck if I use it in team:
-doesn't use Duality, so I can give it to someone else
-doesn't use other Xyz besides Rank 4 and only uses 1 of each xcept Giganto
-doesn't require to use power staples such as Reborn and Heavy Storm
-lots of good cards that you can use even without a couple of staples
-can side in hate cards like Cosmos and other continuous traps

Cons:
-lots of traps
-predictable deck, one-trick pony deck, Many expect the deck to be used in the tournamnet
-easily dies to a well-planned or crazy-drawn OTK
-has problems dealing against 2500+ monsters and esp. Catastor/Tiras/Crimson Shadow
-easily locked by Raioh


Got my prizes and left the store to go to our friend's house for a birthday party. haha.

Zexal Weapons + Utopia

Let's lean back and relax a bit from the rush of the competitive scene and let's look at some new cards from the upcoming Cosmo Blazar booster set. The Flame Dance archetype reminds me of the Shakugan no Shana anime with a mix of Chinese elements. However, it's not them that I want to mention today.

http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/ZW_-_Lightning_Blade

= add 1200 atk + all ZW indestructible by effects + sub-destroy by effects to a Utopia monster

http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/ZW_-_Tornado_Bringer

= add 1300 atk + untargetable by effects + sub-destroy by battle to a Utopia monster

You remember how Gigamantis attaches itself to any Inzektor and, well, these cards do the same thing barring they can only be equipped to a "Utopia" monster. So far, that's Utopia itself and Utopia Ray (perhaps we'll see more non-Xyz Utopia monsters someday?). Tornado Bringer is my choice over the two since it's better to be untargetable once your Utopia is already on the field. Generic traps out there like BTH and Torrential guarantee that your Utopia is already destroyed way before it can be equipped with anything, so, barring Mirror Force and Dark Hole, there should be nothing else that is a staple that can kill something that is untargetable. Also, you can use/side in Lightning Blade against kill-all decks like Lightsworn and Anti-meta.

Xyz Utopia is easy to summon nowadays. Photon, Gadgets, etc., maybe we can see Utopia decks in the future that uses these new ZW cards since a 3800 ATK Utopia that cannot be targeted by anything SHOULD be able to troll anyone.

Trading Etiquette vs. Morality

Just because of ME???

Its funny how everyone panics over the recent news about promo cards being legal for the asia format. I saw in our Facebook trading group that 2 persons were quarelling over the sale of a Thunder King Raioh. 

PlayerA had set up a deal to buy a set of Raioh from PlayerB later this afternoon. They made this agreement before the new legality issue was around.

Now, when Raioh is legal to use, PlayerB wanted to cancel their deal because he wants to use the Raioh for himself. PlayerA does not want to cancel but PlayerB insists, so PlayerA reported him to the admin in the "bad trader thread". PlayerB gets banned from the group but before that he and PlayerA had bickered and foul-mouthed each other over the whole evening resulting with them supposedly having a confrontation later this afternoon. LOL

Well, FYI, we have strict rules in our trading group regarding cancellation of deals and it is very simple.... there is no cancellation. I understand this is to prevent bad deals and all and I have no problem with this rule. Except, there should be a limit to how you can apply this rule. I believe that cancelling because of the sudden legality issue is valid. Its common for us to sell cards that we cannot use. If I were selling Raioh before because I wasn't able to use it and I want to use it now since I can, I believe I have a right to do so because it is MY CARD. They can argue that this goes against good trading etiquette since I already said Yes to the buyer, but still, it is against your moral obligation to another person to take advantage of him because of it!

To better see my point, let's take this example. 

Before the Sept2012 banlist was announced, let's say Jon has arranged a deal to buy a DT Brionac from Snow; but, a day after this, the banlist came out saying Brionac is newly banned. Of course, Jon wanted to cancel the deal since he cannot use the Brionac anymore but Snow insists that he buy it because of the trading group rule (using it to his advantage because his Brionac is now worthless). If you were the admin, would you force Jon to continue the deal, and if he doesn't, it will result with his perma-ban from the group?

See what I mean? Ppl can make use of things like rules and trading etiquette to their own advantage. They tend to forget the little bit of morality in things when it comes to cards and money. If you want to rip off someone, please be at least decent enough to let him back out of the deal once he realizes he is being conned. If he doesn't realize it and you finish the deal, then lucky you. But if he does, you can't force him to be ripped off using pressure from other ppl. Just let it go man. We're not kids anymore. 

With Gadgets being run by most ppl here in the Philippines, it's not uncommon to see everyone looking for Raioh to use against them. In my perspective, that PlayerA is so desperate to find his own Raioh set that he doesn't care about the other person's MORALLY CORRECT reason and takes advantage of the group rules to get what he wants. Well, this is just my two cents anyway. I'm not an admin of that group so I can't meddle with it but, if one of the admins come to read this, I hope this can change how they'll judge things next time.

Oh, btw, i'm in no way PlayerA nor PlayerB. I'm just ranting because I saw their irritating and very long bickering at the group. haha

And quoting Karlo, "it'll be funny when those who are now buying lots of promos realize that the news is not applicable to the Philippines." hahaha

Thanks for reading!

Offering Gadget's Xyz monsters get legal!

I said before that I'll post about my best bet in the new asia format (pre-EXP2012) which is Offering Machina Gadgets. It has consistency in its draws, apply of pressure, trap power, albeit in the Asia format it loses its boss Xyz monsters and one of its best support monsters - Tinplate Goldfish.

HOWEVER...

It has been going around that Konami lifted its ban of promotional card products for use in the Asia format except for the exclusive Duel Terminal cards that were only supplied to Japan. This news came from DSummon of DuelingDays whom is also a Konami Asia Judge so we might as well believe this is true.

http://duelistcodex.wordpress.com/2012/09/12/card-legality-asian-restriction/

This solves the biggest problem in Asia format Gadgets which is what Xyz monsters to use in situations that Giganto X and Machina Fortress cannot solve. This was the limiting factor to Asia-legal Gadget decks. There's no other move besides spamming Fortress with insane advantage and hiding behind traps.

Now, they are not limited to summoning Giganto X and the mediocre Hope, Maestroke, Butterfly Assasin, Gunman, Gagagigo, etc.. (I say mediocre 'coz they dont accomplish much).

They now have access to powerful Rank 4 monsters such as Shock Ruler, Black Corn, Kachi Kochi, and Inverz Roach. They are still missing Emeral, Merrowgeist, Gem Parl, and Ouroboros since these are DT exclusives, but still, having even just Shock Ruler changes the gameplay of Asia Gadgets.

Now the next problem would still be the loss of Tinplate Goldfish. 

This monster + Giganto X were the ones responsible for Gadgets getting to Tier 1. 

Put Dual Summon into the mix and you add more consistency in having that GigantoX on your 1st turn. 

Plus, Tinplate + Dual Summon is a sure way to summon that Shock Ruler! It can also fetch you a Fortress on your 1st turn even if you didn't draw a Gearframe. There are a lot of moves you can make with 3 normal summons in a row. This is why having a good Extra Deck is important.

Without Tinplate Goldfish, you still have that Dual Summon. But now you have less chances to do your 1st turn GigantoX and, without Ultimate Offering or Monster Reborn, it's unlikely that you'll be able to summon that Shock Ruler from an empty field. We'll need a replacement for it... there's two things i have: a simple answer; and a complicated one.

1. Photon Slasher

This card was used before GigantoX was around as you don't really have a reason to use Goldfish. It is easy to summon and with great ATK. This is way better than Cyber Dragon in this deck. You cannot use it to make a GigantoX but you can save it for when you'll need problem-solver Xyz monsters or to spam 3 Lv4s in the field. ALSO, remember that Thunder King Raioh is now legal too and Slasher is an easy out to it.

2. Chain Summoning

This card lets you summon 2 more times in the same turn. OP, right? However, it has a hard requirement as it needs to be in Chain Link 3 or higher to be played. You can do lots of moves to reach Chain Link 3. Remember that when you summon a Gadget and activate its effect, you are already in CL1. You only need something to chain to your Gadget then use Chain Summon. 

Let's simulate some chain builds.

CL1 Gadget >> CL2 Opp's Veiler >> CL3 Chain Summon. (This is a cool play as long as you have another Gadget or Gearframe inhand)

CL1 Gadget >> CL2 Your MST >> CL3 Chain Summon. (Let's just hope that what you targeted by MST does not negate Chain Summon or disrupt your combo)

CL1 Gadget >> CL2 *insert trap here* >> CL3 Chain Summon. (Such as CED, Torrential(???) haha)

CL1 Gadget >> CL2 Emergency Teleport >> CL3 Chain Summon
*thanks to Wslasher for reminding me* Now we're talking some crazy sh1t combos with Machines. Making Burei to spam more Burei/Bureido using those extra Normal Summons isn't to be taken lightly. :)) It'll take a lot of testing to make a good mix of Gadgets and Karakuris though.

From Karakuri >> KMP >> Geargia >> now Gadgets? will our combos never end??

There's a monster that can also help you build CL3 and it is Kagetokage. This monster will chain its own summon on the Gadget effect and from this you can play your Chain Summon. This monster IS dead on its own unlike Photon Slasher but, considering you are using Chain Summon, you'll need all the free chain links you can get. Goblindberg can also be used to make easy Rank 4s but I didn't like it since it lets you miss the timing on your Gadget effect. 

You can also rely on Turn 2 strategies to make Xyz with the help of Tragoedia, Giant Rat, or even Machina Armored Unit (believe me, I tried using this, haha). But we are aiming to make GigantoX on turn1 to make a bigger impact.

These cards can help you make that Rank 4 you need

So that's it! For me, the Rank 4 Xyzs are the strongest of all the Xyz monsters and, currently, the Gadget deck is the best deck to abuse them. Well, that goes only until EXP 2012 gets released though, haha, as Wind-Ups will take the cake on spamming Lv 3 and 4 monsters at will. Enjoy Offering Machina Gadget!

Thanks for reading!

Inzektors: Still trying?

Inzektor Damsel

Inzektor Hornet

The consistency of the Inzektor deck is down because of this. Some may argue that they still have 2 Limit Rebirths and 3 Call of the Haunteds to reuse Damsel, however, the chances of pulling the lone Damsel (not to mention the lone Hornet too) from the deck by drawing then putting it in the grave are slim. Without Damsel, you can only rely on Centipede to gain a +1 which is NOT that great at all compared to other fast decks around.

There are ways to get them out though.

1. Card Trooper / Card Car D

The staples of an Inzektor deck. We all know already what these do.

2. Mystic Tomato 

If not beaten by battle, *most of the time* it becomes a waste. Well, you can input more stuff here to combo such as Creature Swap since most of the Grufs you'll likely draw would be dead without Hornet too.

3. Armageddon Knight 

Useful for Hornet dump. You can dump Damsel just to use your revival cards for it though this move can be easily read by your opponent. You can put Zephyros too for other cool moves. Its also another floater that you can use your Swap on. 

4. *soon* Tour Guide + Sangan

As soon as EXP 2012 arrives, the broken TCG exclusive gives another chance to get Damsel or Hornet out. However, Sangan requires to be killed again first and that means either you'll wait for you opponent to do something, make suicide, or Swap it again. 

OH BTW, while you are putting a lot of effort into getting Damsel/Hornet out of your deck into your graveyard for your revival tricks, you may also want to consider the ONLY move your opponent needs to do to make your life miserable and that is...

Before, DD Crow isn't so much of a big deal since we can just make Leviair and counter-attack. But now, the black bird is like a finisher since without Damsel nor Hornet you cannot make Leviair easily unless you spend like 2-3 cards for it.

Think it through, what if...

1. You have Damsel, but no Hornet?

Just make a Rank 4-5 Xyz with Gruf, of course. But does that accomplish much? No since next turn you only have Centipede in hand.

2. You have Hornet, but no Damsel?

What? Get +1 using Centipede to fetch... Centipede again? Lame.

3. You dont have Hornet nor Damsel.

GG... Centipede justs replaces itself with no real advantage.

and the worst of all...

4. You have Gruf in hand... but no Hornet...

Sad.

This just means that Gruf is only useful when Damsel is around. It doesn't work that well with Centipede. Drawing any combination of Inzektor without either Damsel or Hornet available is basically dead without help from other cards. This is what we mean when we say inconsistent and this is also why Inzektors would prove to be a bad choice in the current meta. 

Even though this was my deck of choice the previous format and would have liked to still give a chance to it, I cannot do so because testing new stuff for it would spend a lot of time and this is what I currently don't have. So I have no choice but to use a different deck to take to Asia Plus.

Next time, we'll discuss about a deck that is THE pioneer of consistency and is currently, imo, one of the top decks but suffers under the Asia format. No... its not Wind-Ups.... we'll be talking about Offering Machina Gadgets and how we can try to cope without the use of Tinplate Goldfish and the badass Rank4 Xyz monsters not legal in Asia format. 

Start again in the New Format!

It's a new format and I'm back from a very long hiatus. Was busy at career-related things and still am today and for the next coming months but I think I'm a bit settled now and would be able to at least play on DN and on the local shop when i get back to Manila for a free weekend.

 A lot has happened in the past 5 months that i want to share....

First of all,
Thanks to all the friendly players from Singapore that we met and hung out with last Asia Champs 2012! You guys were great and accomodating and congratulations to the 2-time champ Jeff. Sold a lot of Asia cards to buy what I need haha. I guess I'll choose not to upload the pix of what happened coz it's already sooo late for them.

Next,
Wslasher told me that he'll be teaming up with someone else for Asia Plus 2012 this coming Oct or Nov. Looks like I'll need to make or join a new team for the event. Calling anyone there who wants to team up with me? haha. Even though I wasnt able to play in tournaments for the last few months, I still think I have my game with me as i can still win most of the time when I'm playing with my friends in their local mini tourney. Haha, btw, I would like to have teammates that I know and can trust (can carry me to the finals when i scrub haha) just like my previous team. Thanks!

Well, I'll be cutting this post up to here since it's starting to be a wall of text. I'll just share my thoughts on my next posts.

Thanks for checking my blog again and welcome to the new format!

Omw to Singapore!

Wish me luck for the Asian Championships to be held in Singapore on Sunday!

Our flight to Singapore is at 10am today! :D Hope it isn't as hot there as it is here

Konami needs us by evening of Saturday so we have the whole Friday and morning til afternoon of Saturday!

How to get to card shops pls? ^^

I'll be taking lots of pictures of the event and I'll try to make a few posts if there is an internet connection available.

Good luck to me! :))

Duel Vids (so late) and New videos page

Chat Box is down! Why?

Coz I got annoyed at all the bots spamming the box with all their links and nonsense.
Also, it wasn't so useful when one could just put a comment here instead.
It's less clutter too. lol

Anyway, its high time I get to post the videos I promised way back for...

Asia Championship Qualifiers - Philippines
and
March Open Monthly Tournament

So without further ado....


Asia Championship Qualifiers - Philippines
*Asia-format, September 2011 banlist

Asia Qualifiers -- Top 32 (enter rank D seeds)
Gravekeepers VS Inzektor
= Duel 2, = Duel 3

Asia Qualifiers -- Top 20 (enter rank C seeds)
Agent Inzektor VS Gladiator Beasts
= Duel 1, = Duel 2, = Duel 3

Asia Qualifiers -- Top 12 (enter rank B seeds)
Machina Gadget VS Inzektor
= Duel 1, = Duel 2

Asia Qualifiers -- Top 8 (enter rank A seeds)
Inzektor VS Tech Genus Agent
= Duel 1 (part1) (part2), = Duel 2, = Duel 3

Asia Qualifiers -- Top 4 Semis
Inzektor VS Rabbit Ragia
= Duel 1, = Duel 2, = Duel 3

Asia Qualifiers -- FINALS
Inzektor VS Six Samurai
= Duel 1, = Duel 2, = Duel 3 
 

March 2012 Open Monthly Tournament
*promos and tcg allowed, March 2012 banlist


March 2012 Monthly -- Top 8
Wind-up Inzektor VS Dino Rabbit
= Duel 1, = Duel 2, = Duel 3

March 2012 Monthly -- Top 4 Semis
Wind-up Inzektor VS Gravekeeper
= Duel 1, = Duel 2, = Duel 3

March 2012 Monthly -- FINALS
Laval VS Gravekeeper
= Duel 1, = Duel 2

  
*all videos are courtesy of Wslasher and his youtube channel
*please forgive if everything here are just links to his youtube to prevent clutter since there are so many videos of the two events

I'll also put up a new section of the blog for videos. You can see it below the blog banner. ^^

T-Report: March 2012 Monthly Open Tournament

Finally, after how many months, we had our open monthly tournament again. Its time we take away from all those restrictions that the Asia Format gives and play all promos and TCG cards!

Format: Open (all cards tcg/ocg allowed)
6 rounds of Swiss then cut to Top 8 elims

Deck used: Inzektors

Round1: vs. Prince (Light Antimeta) 0-0-
G1 = At first he was ahead by a lot of LP when I was forced to use Warning against his monsters instead of direct attacking me. But it was Inzecter stunts when I got to draw Hornet.
G2 = He had Banisher of the Radiance and set cards. I also set 2 cards. He summoned Breaker, I used Torrential, and he chained CED to return Banisher to his hand. He tried to summon it again but my other set card was Warning. Nothing prevented the Inzecter stunts then.
Result: 1-0

Round 2: vs. Dark World  x-0-0
G1 = He goes 1st and summoned Grapha with 2 sets. I set 2 and end but he used Reckless Greed. His turn he used Heavy Storm, summoned Raven, spammed plenty + field = gg
G2 = He got Skill Drain down but I got MST to chain.  He was also surprised that I was Inzecter since he didnt see much of my cards in game 1.
G3 = Again he used Reckless Greed but with Card Destruction however he wasnt able to capitalize since I also used Maxx C that I drew from CardDes to chain against his LV4 1600 monster. I did Dark Hole on my Zenmaines just to rid his field spell. That locked him out and was able to pick apart his cards.
Result: 2-0
(Was glad I was able to win 2 times after a loss since I didnt have a proper side against his deck)

Round 3: vs. Orlando Rivera (Wind-up) x-0-x
G1 = Went first but made a misplay of summoning Gruf by mistake when I thought it was Damsel I'm holding. On his turn he looped me.
G2 = I set 3 cards with Judgment. He activated DFissure and summoned Damsel. I used Torrential. He also misplayed when he played Reborn thinking Damsel was on his GY. His 2nd misplay was when he made Leviair first then activate his 2nd DFissure (i got rid of the 1st one) so I just chained my Veiler on it.
G3 = Looped me again. No Maxx C or Veiler. =((
Result: 2-1

Round 4: vs. Karlo Bonillo (Inzektor) x-0-0
G1 = He used the 1500LP superweapon against me. He had it mained.
G2 = I used the 1500LP superweapon against him. Had it sided.
G3 = He used Storm against my lone backrow and it Transmigration Prophecy. I return his Hornet and Gruf at gy leaving him with no Inzecter plays while I had mine.
Result: 3-1

Round 5: vs. Dominic (Inzektor) 0-0-
G1 = 2 Card Car Ds ate his Veiler and Torrential. It was trench wars when he still had no Inzecter play but eventually I drew what I need.
G2 = I used torrential on his Damsel but he used Chain Disappearance on himself. That removed all my Damsels in my deck. However, he got another Damsel in grave so I used the Superweapon again to borrow his own Damsel.
Result: 4-1

Round 6: vs. Gravekeepers 0-x-x
G1 = No Necrovalley. Easy win.
G2 = He got Necrovalley + Sin Cyber End. lol
G3 = We both went into topdecking mode (I had no Inzecters drawn) until he searched Necrovalley with Commadant and Royal tribute with Pot. He activated Necrovalley, I used Solemn, but he used Dark Bribe. lol. Reborn and other sh1ts that I could have used all went numb. 
Result: 4-2
(No side against this kind of deck again. >_< I regret removing the Decrees from my side)

Luckily I got 7th place so its on to Top 8 elims.

Top 8: vs. William Sy (Six Samurai) x-0-x
G1 = I misplayed when I used Solemn to negate his CED that wanted to save his Kagemusha from my Chain Disappearance. I should have saved it to negate his 2nd Kizan that destroyed my f/d Damsel.
G2 = Drew crap again. Only had Gruf and Gigamantis to beat his Kizans down but eventually he was able to make Revise. I drew Damsel and won.
G3 = 1st turn Shien :(

Final Result: Top 8 and a few boosters as consolation prize that all contained crap. Yuki, who also used Inzektor, lost in Top 8 and his boosters were also crap. Where's all the foils and Card Cars? haha

Watched the semis.... It was Laval vs Six Samurai.

Game 3, William got Gateway, Shien, 2 Kizans, GM, and Book of Moon set. His opponent used Storm, Shien negated. That let him use Sweltering Heat to mill Cannoneer and the lv1 tuner that also milled >> lv1 tuner >> lv1 tuner >> lady of burning lake. Used Burning Lake and 1 tuner to destroy Book then Rekindling!!! That made him a Librarian with a lv1 tuner left. He normal summoned Battle Fader to synchro Formula. Draw 2! He got another Rekindling!!! He made Laval Dragoon? (Lv5) to return Shien to extra deck and made Quasar Dragon!! GM and Kizan died and Quasar is now staring at William who conceded in his turn.

Epic duel. Both players god drawed. :))
wasnt able to watch the finals as it was getting late but I hoped the Laval won.^^ I miss Lib+Formula.

Thanks for reading!

DT Chronicles 1

Now this is interesting...

http://shriek.twoday.net/stories/75258498/

Afaik, chronicles = retelling of a story? hmm

There should only be two possibilities for this:

1. Either Genesis Star God - Sophia really did reset the whole history of the DT universe. Meaning, the DT archetypes get new support (to replace the Synchros with Exceeds) and the DT story may have a new future, hopefully without Worms. :))

OR

2. This is a recap/reprint of the DT exclusive cards in order to make it available to the Asia countries. I do hope this one is correct so that everyone can experience what the Japanese play.

We can see a trend in Konami.

The TCG boosters are getting released at ALMOST the same time as OCG.
TCG gets their DT exclusives faster now
OCG are getting some TCG exclusives even outside EXP boosters (eg. Zenmaines)
(If No.2 is correct) DT exclusives are now being reprinted for the Asia region.

If this continues, we might see a yugiworld where we wont need to divide ourselves as TCG or OCG!
Now that is cool. :) Hopefully Sophia (though his/her art IS henious) really do reset YGO history.

So Rabbit's weakest matchup is Grapha? lol

Dark World won TCG's 100th YCS Anniversary Tournament that was attended by who-knows-how-many-there-are-really duelists that were estimated to be 4200+.

Congratulations to the winner - Michael Balan - as (quoting him) he defeated a total of 7 Rabbit matchups.
The first thing that came to my mind was...

.......how the hell did Grapha survive Macro Cosmos???

Surely it was not because of the Gellenduo that Balan sided. (lol, what happened to good ol' Snowman?)
Royal Decree may be a relevant factor but it wasn't like Rabbit players don't expect it against them. Decree is the first card I WOULD side in against Rabbit (after Snowman Eater/Rykos).

So how did Grapha and his armies win?
(im surprised I dont see Grapha making a proud post at the Konami blog yet)

Its coz the Rabbit player drew the worst hand possible in a finals match.

Triple Kabazauls?
Double Fiendish Chain? (y didnt he side this out?)
No Rabbit drawn?

lolgg. I see what he did there. :))

Car Farming

I take back what I said in my previous post about not putting more Card Car Ds in my deck since I draw the 2nd one most of the time. lol.

I dont care now if I draw the 2nd Car, as long as I can do this in turn1...

1)  Duality >> set 1-3 traps >> draw 2 with Car
2)  Allure >> set 1-3 traps >> draw 2 with Car
3) Duality >> Allure >> set 1-3 traps >> draw 2 with Car
OR
3.5) Allure >> Duality >> set 1-3 traps >> draw 2 with Car

Lol. Rip out 10-13 cards from your deck in turn 1.

I dont care if you Storm me, since I will Storm you too. rawr!

Yugioh now is like Dota/LoL/HoN...

Step1: Farm gold like mad
Step2: Farm your opponents using farmed items making them mad
Step3: Win and troll.

Compare to Yugimonz...

Step1: Farm cards with Car like mad
Step2: Farm your opponent using farmed Inzektor or Hieroglyph otk making them mad
Step3: Win and troll.














Let's all farm like a boss! :))

T-Report: 3/3/12 Asia Format

Went to the official store yesterday to join the first tournament of the new banlist. 

(Can't say new format since it is still Inzector-Ragia-Windup format). 

3/3/12 Asia Format

Participants: 16

Deck Used: Inzectors 

My objective for today is to try using Card Car D in the deck and feel if it is beneficial or not. 

From the usual decklist of Trooper Inzectors I removed...

-1 Armageddon Knight (ran only 1 copy before)

-1 Effect Veiler (ran 3 copies before)

-1 MST (ran 2 copies before)

to add...

+1 Gruf

+2 Card Car D

Replacing Armaknight with Inzector Gruf is common sense since Gruf satisfies the reason why we run Armaknight (to get Hornet). My theory-oh tells me that even though I reduce the copies of Veiler and MST, with 2 Card Car D's replacing them, I should still have the same odds of drawing them back. Also, I dont like to use 3 Cars since I dont want to draw another Car with the effect. This is also the reason why I reduced Veiler and only added 1 Gruf.

Round1: vs. Timothy Vivit (Inzectors) 0-x-0 *won die roll

G1 = Drew 2 with Car 1st turn, then Duality. Veiler'd his Damsel, survived DAD, and did my stunts.

G2 = (I side out Cars when I go 2nd) My Hornet gets Crowed. Went back and forth using all the luck I have to counter all his Inzector plays. When it came to the point that he had no more Inzector in the deck, no card in hand, and only Revise, Leviair, and Centi on field, my luck ran out and didnt draw any Centi or Damsel to pair with my Foolish Burial in hand.

G3 = Drew 2 with Car again and got Allure and another Car when I had no DARKs in hand. lol. I hate drawing a 2nd Car. Again, stalled his play using Reborn on his Hornet and hid it under Zenmaines. In the end, a Veiler on his Inzektor then spamming my own won the game.

Round2: vs. Orlando Rivera (Wind-up Inzectors) 0-x-0 *won die?

Cant remember much from this except that I, again, drew Car B with Car A's effect. >_< Damn. Should I just play 1 Card Car D? Good thing I had Duality too to get good traps. Also, I recall using Maxx C when he tried to loop me. He continued and tossed my Damsels but got 8? hand cards after his stunts and Soul Release. Still won coz of super card advantage.

Semis: vs. Rabbit Ragia x-0-x *lost die

G1 = 1st turn Ragia with backrows of Demon's Chain, etc. Didn't have a good draw to retaliate so I tried to bait his Ragia's effect with Car since I have Storm drawn., but he didn't lol. This is the matchup where I regret not maining 2 MSTs.

G2 = 1st turn Car + Duality with set Warning and Decree. He summons Sabersaurus, I negated it. He set 3 cards. I used Decree. I forgot how he tried to remove Decree but he failed to do so. He had 2 Shadow Mirrors, Fiendish Chain, and Cosmos? facedown. wow.

G3 = I got him pinned by Decree but didnt have Inzectors to apply pressure. He beat me down to 1700LP then I got Centipede. Killed his Breaker and Grand Mole on field. But died when he used Dark Hole and attacked directly with his top draw Guaiba (his only monster).

The Finals match was Ragia vs Ragia so I didnt watch it anymore. 

In the end I get another Booster Pack as prize for getting to Semis, lol. Got the Cyda-like Hieroglyph and sold it. Well, at least I get my entrance money back, lol. Plus, I get good practice against Inzectors and Ragia.

Card Car D was playing 50-50 in my mind now. I hate drawing Car then Car again. Next time I'll try to just main 1 Car and replace the other with another Gruf.

Thanks for reading!

GAOV cards to look out for!

The vids of the recently ended Philippine ACQ aren't ready yet (still being annotated and uploaded) so I'll post something about new stuff from GAOV that caught the attention of players.

First let's have the new card to join the ranks of Duality, Formula, Librarian, etc as generic draw card.

Card Car D
EARTH/Machine/Effect
800/400
Cannot be Special Summoned. During your Main Phase 1, if this card was Normal Summoned during this turn: You can Tribute it; draw 2 cards, and enter your End Phase. You cannot Special Summon monsters during this turn.

It is a monster version of Pot of Greed but with a little restriction: you get 2 cards in exchange to proceeding to your End Phase. Meaning, whatever those cards you draw with this are useless for that turn as you cant use/set them right away. Of course, some cards can bypass this drawback such as "hand traps" - like Veiler and Maxx C - and Quick-play Spells that you can activate during the End Phase.

One way to use this is to do everything you can without making a normal summon before you play this card. Abusing Card Car D along with Pot of Duality will let you see a total of 11 cards from your deck on your first turn (Draw 6 >> Duality reveals 3 >> Car draws 2 more). You can see a total of 13 cards if you factor Allure of Darkness in, lol. Expect to see ppl using Duality, set traps, then summon Car to draw 2 and end turn.

Card Car D is definitely another game-changing card. Of course, everyone likes a free +1 but hates to let their opponent do the same. Thus, you can expect Car to get spammed by Veiler as it totally erases Car's effect since Car can only be tributed to draw during the turn it was normal summoned.

The second card is not a generic-use card but a support for an already powerful theme - Inzecters!

Inzecter Gruf
DARK/Insect/Effect
500/100
Once per turn: You can equip 1 "Inzektor" monster from your hand or Graveyard to this card. While this card is equipped to a monster, increase the equipped monster's Level by 2, and gains ATK and DEF equal to this card's ATK and DEF respectively. You can send this Equip Card to the Graveyard to target 1 monster you control; increase its Level by 1 or 2.

This lets Inzecters summon Ranks 4 and 5 monsters with ease with a single Damsel. Remember when Summoner Monk is used just to dump Hornet with Armaknight and make a Lavalval Chain? With Gruf, you can get the same results without risking your life with Monk!

With Gruf, you can make the following Xyz monsters and benefit!

Rank 4s
1.  Lavalval Chain = mill a Hornet or place Dark Armed Dragon or Damsel on your top deck
2.  Daigusta Emeral = reshuffle your used Damsels and Centipedes back to your deck to draw more stuff

Rank 5s
1.  Tyrus = big monster that cant be destroyed except battle and destroys a card each time it attacks? wow
2.  Volcasaurus = we know why Ring of Destruction is banned right? plus, this guy can attack too!
3.  Inzecter Exa-Stag = can steal opponent's field/GY monster and equip to this guy
4.  Ninja - Crimson Shadow = great on turn1 as it can't be destroyed for 2 turns!

Plus, the chances of you making a Inzecter stunt on Turn 1 marginally increases! Oh, and dont forget the new Rank 3 Xyz monsters that are coming out in Starter Deck 2012! Surely, Inzecters are receiving much love from Konami. lol

The last card is an Xyz monsters that looks mediocre but is actually pretty well designed.

Thunderclap Knight - Gaia Dragoon
WIND/Dragon/Xyz/Effect
2600/2100
2 Level 7 monsters
You can also Xyz Summon this card by using 1 face-up Rank 5 or 6 Xyz Monster you control as the Xyz Material. (Xyz Materials attached to that monster also become Xyz Materials of this card.) If this card attacks a Defense Position monster, inflict piercing Battle Damage to your opponent.

What's so great about this card is the fact that you can Xyz summon it on top of any Rank 5 or 6 monster for free - just like how you summon Chaos Hope Ray.


Summon this on top of Volcasaurus after you use its burn effect to be able to do a direct attack! This single move could possible end a duel outright! In a Hieroglyph deck, summon this on top of a used Atumus to be able to attack. Basically, you get to bypass the drawbacks a Rank 5 or 6 Xyz monster has in exchange for their powerful effects.


This ends my list of cards that caught my attention in the latest set GAOV. Konami is pushing products fast as in March we'll get Starter Deck 2012; then, come April we'll get set 801 "Return of the Duelist". Let's hope my money doesn't wear out faster than how new products come out, lol.

Thanks for reading!

Day 2 of Asia Champs / Philippine Qualifiers

Just got home and let me start this post by saying "TEH BUILD WINS!" Haha. 

Why did I say this? Coz I won our country's qualifiers this evening with my Inzecter deck. Which build though? That was my problem before i decided to register for the tournament. As we all know, you can play the "standard/core" build, the "Wind-up" build, and the "Trooper" build. I opted to use the latter since I miss the GY shenanigans that Junk Doppel offers and this particular Inzector build takes away from the boring "normal summon, good? no? okay, end turn T.T" that standard Inzector decks suffer from.

Here's a quick rundown of the my Day 2 of the tournament:

Random pairing was done and the matchups were: (I'll put some details if I know some)

Top 8 pairings

Alvin Lim (TG Agent) *won* vs. Jeff Legarda (Evol)

William "Wslasher" Sy (Six Samurai) *won* vs. Karlo Bonillo (Inzecter, with almost same build as mine)

=Karlo should have won in Game 3 if he didn't misplay with making a Zenmaines with his unused and newly-revived Damsel mistaking it as his Veiler'd Damsel.

 

Jomer Flores (Rabbit Ragia) *won* vs. Timothy Vivit (Inzecter, standard?)

= I heard from Tim that Jomer got plenty of outs to his faceup Decrees, gg.

 

Edsel Gozon (Inzecter) *won* vs. Kent Dino (TG Agent)

= I started strong in Game 1 and controlled. Game 2 I kept on drawing Hornets and no other Inzects and got beat by TGs. Game 3 I took a lot of punishment from his side deck cards such as DD Crow, Veiler, and Crack from the Different Dimension. A pinch mill of Hornet by Card Trooper opened my Inzecter plays and won the duel. Found out that he had 2 Shine Balls and no Agents in his draws thats why he wasnt able to apply pressure even though I got hit by plenty of banish stuff.

Top 4 pairings (unintentional, but the matchups were surprising, ^^)

William Sy (Six Samurai) *won* vs. Alvin Lim (TG Agent)

= Battle of champions! William and Alvin are both National and Asian Champions for 2010 and 2011. Game 1, William's mained Maxx C and Veiler won him control. Game 2 it was payback of Alvin's Maxx C and it generated the advantage for the win. Game 3, a top of Heavy Storm by William made way for his swarm.

Edsel Gozon (Inzecter) *won* vs. Jomer Flores (Rabbit Ragia)

= Battle of 2010 and 2011 Champion Team members! Game 1 he used Dustshoot on me. Game 2 I used Dustshoot on him! Lucky payback, lol. Haha. Game 3 was very nerve-wracking. We went into top decking mode with him at 6000+ LP while I had 250 LP left. His cards were only a faceup Guaiba and a set card while I had a Hornet in hand and none in grave with all my Damsels banished (courtesy of Chain Dis) and Centipedes graved. I top draw.... Giga-Mantis!!! I contemplate if I will attack his Guaiba since I'm afraid I might get Prisoned. I decided to attack and it connected! Yeah! Hornet/Mantis continued to attack through his Holy Lance (which prevented the damage from 1 attack of mine) and bluff set cards (found out they were Macro Cosmos and Dustshoot) and eventually he scooped. Wew! Great game Jomer! ^^

Finals

Edsel Gozon (Inzecter) *won* vs. William Sy (Six Samurai)

= Now it's time for team mates to face off! Im proud to see us meet in the finals. Go Team 3DS! :D

I started with Hornet f/d and 2 sets. He set a monster and 2 cards too. I summoned Damsel and he lets it go. I activate my f/d Foolish Burial to send another hornet to GY and activated Damsel. It got Veiler'd and I equipped it with Mantis to attack his f/d Kageki. Proceeded to control from there. Game 2 his Zanji went through my Snowman Eaters and Rykos. He got Enishi and I scooped as I didnt have anything left. Game 3 I started with 3 cards set. He responded with 4 cards set and at EP I flip my Decree. My turn I summoned Centipede and activated its effect. He activated Shadow Mirror and chained MST to destroy my Decree. I made Zenmaines the next turn and beat his LP down with it. It turned out he drew too much Veilers and stuff. Too many sided cards, imo. 

I think tomorrow eve I'll post some videos that Wslasher recorded as feature matches from Day 1 and Day 2.

Well, I'll end this post with this guys... I'm getting tired now as its almost 3am here. =.=

Thanks for reading guys! Wish me luck at Asia Championships!

Day 1 of Asia Champs / Philippine Qualifier

Here's a short update of what occurred earlier today in the Philippine Qualifiers for Asia Championships 2012!

As I have mentioned before in my post, the tournament format is made complicated again by Konami and is as follows:

Round 1-4
This was a Swiss-format tournament of two groups. The 80 unseeded players are equally divided into 2 groups. At the end of the 4th round, the Top 16 players of each group (for a total of 32 players) are taken and they will advance to the next round.

Round 5
32 players + 4 seeded Rank D players = 36 players
They are randomly paired and played Single Eliminations.

Round 6
18 players + 2 seeded Rank C players = 20 players
Again, randomly paired and eliminations.

Round 7
10 players + 2 seeded Rank B players = 12 players
Same format as previous round. This was the last round for Day 1 and is the most critical of all since this round determined who will come back for Day 2. (wow, YCS? haha)

Tomorrow (or strictly, later this afternoon) is Day 2 of the tournament where the top 2 players of the Philippines that were seeded will join the matches. All rounds will be of random pairing and single elimination matches and the format will be as follows:

Round 8
6 players + 2 seeded Rank A players = 8 players

Semis... then Finals!

The players that will face the gauntlet tomorrow are:

Top 8
Alvin Lim (Rank A seed)
William "Wslasher" Sy (Rank A seed)
Timothy Vivit (Rank B seed)
Karlo Luigi Bonillo (Rank C seed)
Jomer Flores
Kent Dino
Jeff Legarda
Edsel Gozon (me!) :D

Nice lineup! I'm expecting tmr will be a very stressful and long day as most of the players in the top8 are seasoned veterans and each having their own achievements -- we have 2 Philippine Worlds and Asian Champions, 2 members of the 2011 Asia Team Tournament Champion, and 1 member of 2010 Asia Team Philippines! I hope my good luck doesn't wear out :))

btw, one of the players in the top 8 was running a rogue deck that anyone wouldn't expect to see top. Haha, surprising and impressive showing! Congrats!

That's all for tonight! Wish me luck for Day 2!

EDIT!:

I just want to say... "the build works!!!!!" haha! << tagged to Karlo Bonillo :))

2012 Banlist confirmed! More thoughts

The list is confirmed. Here's a final pic for those still in their denial stage.

Here's a link to my previous post about the complete list:

http://duelingblog-ph.blogspot.com/2012/02/march-banlist-death-of-trishula.html

So what's new? If you look closely, you can notice an asterisk beside Reborn Tengu. It says that Tengu will be released soon (and much earlier) in the OCG that's why it was included in the list. Starter Deck 2012 anyone? Although I dont think I'll be buying 2x SD2012 just for Tengus since it wont be that useful and advantageous anymore, plus, synchro summoning (Tengu's asset) is much much harder to perform now since Bulb and Spore are gone. Alexandrite Dragon pushes me more to buy the SD. Hoping for good reprints also.

What else?

Oh yeah, I went to the shop yesterday to play but went down in the 1st round (elimination). Because of that I wasn't in the mood to register and spend ($12+) for Asia Qualifiers next Saturday. Maybe I'll register on Tuesday.

Lots of ppl were raging and complaining about the banlist when it was confirmed by late afternoon. Some were telling that they're gonna quit though I dunno if they really will. It would be shame though to see them quit just because of a banlist. Personally, I lost lots of cash also since my whole bling Junk Doppel deck is dead and I probably wouldn't be able to sell it now. My Tengus are also hit. My DT Trishula died. But they dont see me saying I quit.  Maybe they still haven't accepted the fact that Yugioh is a game where you'll continuously waste cash. You can't make a top deck and expect it to last forever. Sooner or later you'll need to change your deck. If you want to make a top tier deck, you should accept the fact that you'll only play it for 6 months or less.

Let's move on ppl! haha.

It's gonna be 6 months of Inzector, Windup, and Rabbit decks -- unless something usurps them.

No Veilers? GG

No Fiendish Chains? GG

No Maxx C? GG

No Raioh? GG? well, not much xD

Expect me to also "abuse the living shit out of Sangan and Card Trooper" with 3x Call of the Haunted and 2x Torrential Tribute!

 --quoting LFN on this cool line! Yeah!

March Banlist: The Death of Trishula

I wake up in the middle of the night because I got flooded by text messages telling me about a new banlist.
I check the blogs and other forums and here's the new "unconfirmed, yet seems true" banlist:

Forbidden:

Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Boundary

Glow-Up Bulb

Spore

Trap Dustshoot

Limited:

Tech Genus Striker

Agent of Mystery - Earth

Semi-Limited:

Marshmallon

Lumina, Lightlord Summoner

Emergency Teleport

Shien's Smoke Signal

Level Limit Area-B

Torrential Tribute (!!!game changer!!!)

Ultimate Offering

Reborn Tengu

No longer on the list:

Call of the Haunted

Most things that we look for that proves a list is legit is in here:
1.  Scan of the magazine
2.  Mid-February release
3.  Shown on Shriek's blog (though its true also that Shriek posts fake lists sometimes)

There are also things here/missing that can argue this is a fake:
1.  No pic of actual promo card
2.  Includes a TCG Exclusive card (when Konami clearly announced that they wont be doing separate lists for tcg and ocg)
3.  Includes a SD debut card (agent earth)

Personally, I feel this is the real list even though its hard to fathom that Konami ultimately decided on killing the only engine feeding the synchro decks -- Plant engine.  Looks like I need to say goodbye to the deck I find very fun and exciting to play with which is Junk Doppel.

We'll miss you Tori!

XYZ UTOPIA!

Inzektors, Windups, and Rescue Rabbit weren't hit!

My gut feeling tells me a month back that the new decks (though dominating the meta) wont be getting hit yet because it is a March list. Usually, new decks and stuff are hit on the September list while old stuffs are killed in March to give way to new products. Hooray that I haven't sold all my Windup stuff yet.

So what decks are we expecting to see?

Of course, top tiers are still Inzectors, Windups, Rabbit, and Hero Beats.
Following behind are Offering gadgets (still alive), Ninjas, Lavals (no Trish but can still go Quasar/Nova), Sams (2 SSSignals but 1 Shien and no Trish? =.=) and Dark World.

New appearances by Lightlord (2 Lumina but no bulb and Trish?), Tele-dad-like decks, and Hieroglyphs can be expected. Special mention to Hieroglyphs since the deck is built strongly but not broken yet.

RIP to the decks:
Junk Doppel and all TCG "Synchrocentric" decks (oh i hate that name)
Karakuri Machina Plant
TG Agents (r1 tuners and no trish? can still play but lol)
^what else?

OH, i nearly forgot! Another major format change is 2x Torrential Tribute!!!
Imba, i haven't gotten an asia copy of 1 yet and now I need 2? fuuuu. Need 3x Call of the Haunteds too >_<

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Btw, sorry for not posting stuff since I'm waiting for the banlist and a full GAOV before I post anything. Since both the banlist and a full GAOV are now spoiled, expect the next post to be about Hieroglyphs!

Thanks for reading!

Flash News: Konami f*cks us again!

Dont forget to check out my earlier post: (Banlist Speculation/Wishlist (Flamers come XD ))
http://duelingblog-ph.blogspot.com/2012/02/banlist-speculationwishlist-flamers.html
=========================================================================

Its so surprising when I titled my last post as "Flamers come" then a few minutes pass I get this news...

http://www.konami-asia.com/th/yugi/event/seeded_player_2012.php?lang=en&ct=ph

This a photo from the Konami Asia site (link above) showing a list of "Seeded" players for the upcoming Asian Championships 2012. Afaik, "seeded" means "invited." Meaning, these guys get a free invite to the Asian Championships in SG? Bypassing the qualifier tournament? Wow

This is good news right? Because Konami is giving away free "seed" positions.

But wait, who were chosen?

Oh, the first two persons are the Top 1 and Top 2 persons for the Division A of the Zexal Ranking.
Obviously, they should be given invites and they deserve it.

But wait! The next persons are not from Division A! They're all from Division B, C, and D!!!
Why do they get the free invites and not those in Div. A?

I remember when Konami announced the new Zexal Ranking system they wanted the players to reach Division A because they will be given special privileges. Here's a few quotations from Konami FAQ:

Q: Will this ranking system be use to get special invites for prestige event(s)?
A: Yes

Q: So does that mean players in "Division Duel Monsters" cannot get invites to Asian Championship Qualifiers?
A: Yes, so try your best to keep your division in Divison GX (C) ,5D's (B) and ZEXAL (A) before the "play-off" game mode start.

So Konami, what happened? Why just pick 2 from each division? Why give invites for B, C, and D when there are still persons above them? Why give 4 invites to "Division D - Duel Monsters" when you said they cannot get invites?

There's lots of questions to answer. Konami just put a list on their site without any explanation of what is happening. Hopefully, this isn't made by them just to troll us.

Banlist Speculation/Wishlist (Flamers come XD )

I think its only about a week or so before we get a few leaks (fake or not) of the coming March banlist changes.

What deck gets hammered? revived?
What staples get rotated in/out of the list?
Will there be another imba Forbidden card coming out of its prison, like BLS?

Here's my take of what I would like to happen...

Monster Reborn OUT/ Dark Magician of Chaos IN (FLAME START)
= I would like to see this happen. Personally, I'm always wishing my opponent doesn't draw Reborn because if he does... either he cooks up an OTK with it or I survive but with most of my defenses wasted. Of course, the same goes for if "I" was the one who draw Reborn. See the pattern?
How about DMoC? I remember him being spammed back in the DAD Return days because of Reborn and Dimension Fusion. D.Fusion is already banned and if ever Reborn goes 0, DMoC wouldn't be spammed like
a boss --- unless you want to do crazy stuff like "CoTH + IronWall" or Escape from the Different Dimension.

Mystical Space Typhoon back to Limited
= I didn't like it when Konami put this in unlimited. Its like they want us to throw away our Dust Tornados, Double Cyclones, etc.. With Heavy Storm unbanned, 1 MST is the balanced amount for the good of all decks. Plus, this will give us space in our Main and Side decks.

Bottomless Trap Hole unlimited
= Why are boss monsters thriving in our games compared to the metas before? Its because BTH was put to 2. Yes we have Solemn Warning to pair with the 2 BTHs... but can Warning save us from 2x Call of the Haunted and Reborn? No, lol.

That's it for generic stuff... here's some things deck-specific:

Inzecter Hornet limited (FLAME START)
= Some say Damsel will be hit, but I dont think so. Why? They hit Damsel and the entire deck goes down. Damsel is the only "real" threat in an Inzecter deck because using her to spam Hornets garners you plenty of plusses. Take away Hornet from that then you only get a chance to spam Centipedes and get BTH'd after. Plus, even without Hornet the deck can still function using the new LV2 Inzecter to spam Rank 5 Xyz monster but with a risk since you weren't able to destroy anything on your opp's side.

Agent of Creation - Venus limited
= Because of Xyz monsters, Venus became a +1-2 card, lol. If you kill it, she becomes food for Master Hyperion. Wow, I can't believe 1 useless monster before became so powerful with just 1 SD. Please hammer it Konami. Let those Agent decks use their Mars, Mercury, or Jupiter for once.

Evolkaiser Ragia limited (FLAME START)
= They did it to Shi En, right? Its only justice that they do the same to this guy.

Future Fusion banned
= Lots of dragon themes going around now. What do they have in common? Once they draw Future Fusion, it's a whole lot of advantage and plusses for them. Additionally, they can use this in the same turn they use Pot of Duality! Talk about greediness.

Fishborg Gunner limited
= I cant believe why they needed to kill this card when they also limited Formula Synchron and Librarian at the same time. Is it because of their new "Fishborg" card? Wew, that card is only troublesome to use.

Effect Veiler limited (FLAME START)
= I DO want this to happen, lol. Yes, this move promotes self-touching decks but there's always 3x Maxx C, 3x DD Crow, 3x Orange Light, right? We all want to limit the power cards of different decks but let's give them a chance to win at least. Let's prevent anti-meta decks to become THE meta itself.

Destiny Draw unlimited
= I think its about time we give total freedom to the once broken Destiny Hero engine. There's lots of different engines available out there that are much more powerful like the Plant engine and TG engine. I'm a fanboy of DHeroes so please grant me this wish, haha

These are just some of the things I would like to happen. I haven't covered everything yet so I'll just leave that to you readers to comment about. :)

Thanks for reading!

Post before the month ends and things to come

Sorry to ya'll for not posting the entire month of January. 

Sooo busy with work and what to do next. If I picture myself as a Mage in Ragnarok Online then I'm currently at Job Lvl 50 and need to make a decision whether to become a Wizard or a Sage. Its hard to make a choice that can and would determine your life in the future. >_<

Well actually, only my daytime is used up at work. Nighttime is consumed by FF13! I haven't finished the game and the sequel of it (FF13-2) is going to be released tomorrow! Ugh. At the very least, I need to finish the story tonight!

So that's the story why there's no post. However, there are lots of things I want to blog about for the next few days to make up to you readers.

1. The new archetype: Hieroglyph Dragons

I know I'm a bit late in regards to this news but I still want to share my view regarding them.

2. Banlist Speculations

I noticed almost everyone is making their prediction list. I'll do mine too. :)) 

3. Card Review: Photon Streak Bouncer

This is the card I am most excited about in GAOV. I'll post some things I thought up about this card such as easy ways to summon it, etc. 

4. Tourney Report: 1/27/12 Open

Was able to play and win in a tournament with 2$ entrance and gives a DW deck core set as 1st prize.

5. Asian Championships: Phillipine Qualifier/Final

Scheduled at the end of February, it'll be the premier event for Q1 2012. Most probably the best players of the country will come with their deck-of-choice for the chance to represent in Singapore! What decks would they likely bring?

These are the lineup for my next posts. They may or may not be in order as they appear here but I'll blog about all of these so keep an eye out for updates!

Thanks for reading!

T-Report! 1/7/12 Asia Format

Today is a lucky day, lol.

GS2012 is released today and lots of players bought boxes and packs. Estimated prices of each single card plummet by the hour and it wasn't long until one can just ask an acquaintance for 1$ Zenmaines/Stardust, free GR Armageddon Knight, Prisons, etc. Got plenty of free stuffs myself w/o buying a single pack, lol. Expecting to get more next week, XD

Also got a free entry into the Pod 3 (7pm) tournament because a guy bought a GS pack and I was beside him. He said he wasn't gonna enter a tournament with his pack and me and my friend asked if we can enter instead of him. (To enter a tournament here, you need to buy a 150Yen pack. So, 1 150Yen = 1 Entry. But 1 GS pack = 300Yen. That means 2 Entries.) LUCKY! Free game!

Format: Asia Ranking

Single Eliminations

Participants: 16

Deck Used: Inzector Wind-up

Round1: vs. Lightlord 0-x-0

G1 = Able to do Zenmai loop early but dumped a Plague, Bulb, Gardna, and Wulf! zomgwtf! Luckily I had Warning and Judgment to save me from the Chaos Sorcs and Synchros he tried to make.

G2 = Got Light Mirror from Duality. Set LIM, BTH, and Damsel f/d. His turn he blind MSTs the BTH, summoned Ehren and attacked but I flipped LIM to save Damsel. My turn I made the Zenmai loop with my Damsel and Hunter since I didnt draw Hornet and dumped sh1t again like Gardna, Plague?, and Celestia. Misplayed also when I didn't set my MST and he was able to stop my LIM with Decree. Epic fail turn was when I had Centipede faceup, Mind Crush f/d, and drew Hornet as my only hand card. I used Mind Crush and called Judgment Dragon to check his hand and even if I fail to call right Hornet will be dumped and still can be used by Centipede. Saw his hand and he has DDCrow. lolwut, scoop.

G3 = Got LIM again and this time was able to keep control and advantage with Damsel loop.

Round2: vs. Loki (Gladiator Rabbit Ragia) x-0-0

G1 = He summons Rabbit and I Veiler'd. He set 5. I got no Storm nor MST, :( summoned Damsel and equipped Hornet and he flips Macro Cosmos. fail. Tried to kill his Rabbit to prevent Ragia at least but he used Compulsory on Damsel. scoop.

G2 = Went back and forth. My only Hornet was banished by his Retiari. He has Andals, some GBs, and Test Tigers in his deck, lol. Was able to comeback with Zenmai loop to dump some of his cards.

G3 = Rabbit into Ragia + 1 backrow. Looks like he drew bad. Used MST to bait his Ragia but he let it go since it was also MST that he set. I played a little mind game. I had Centibeet and Foolish Burial in hand. I used Duality and took a Hornet and summoned it. Looks like he got confused and he didnt negate. I activate Burial and again he let it go so I dumped another Hornet and his Ragia was killed. He was still able to fight back though until he did Rabbit >> 2 Andals >> Test Tiger >> Bestiari >> Gyzarus >> Laquari and Darius + Retiari from GY. That was 6 special summons! However, I was able to chain Maxx C on the Rabbit effect and also drew to 10 cards in hand. My turn his field and hand got wiped.

Top4: vs. Karlo [his blog] (Dimensional Rabbit Ragia) 0-x-0

G1 = No Ragia but 5 backrow. I used Duality to get MST and summoned Damsel and tried to equip Hornet but he chained Demon's Chain. I thought for a while to not use MST to destroy Chain since he might have a Macro Cosmos set also but used it anyway since if Damsel got negated I dont have any follow-up play next. Luckily he didn't have Cosmos so I got advantage with the Damsel loop.

G2 = Rabbit but I Veiler. He used Duality to get Warning and he set 2 backrow. I have Kappa and another Veiler. I used Duality to get BTH to prevent Ragia and set it along my 2nd Pot and Kappa. His turn he summoned Guaiba >> BTH >> he chains Forb. Lance from his set cards! omg. I Veiler again his Rabbit so he attacks with his 900 ATK Guaiba and my 900 DEF Kappa destroys both his Warning and my Pot but it survived. He made Hope with Guaiba and Rabbit. My turn I had Hornet but no other Inzecter so I used it and Kappa to Xyz Zenmaines to stall. Of course he didnt try to attack it too and he was able to draw Rabbits again earlier than me drawing other Inzecters.

G3 = Drew 2 Centibeets, 2 Instant Fusions, Foolish Burial and Veiler. Summoned Centibeet and equipped it with Hornet and set Ramen. His turn he used Storm. I fetched Damsel. He summoned Kabazauls to kill Centibeet and set 2. Summoned another Centibeet, equipped Hornet and destroyed Chain Disappearance! Wew. Luckily, I learned not to summon Damsel carelessly anymore. Cant remember how but was able to do the Zenmai loop and dumped his 2 other Kabazauls in hand! Last I Xyz a Revise Dragon and attacked Kabazauls but it got killed by Shrink. His turn he drew Guaiba and I used Veiler. He attacked Zenmaighty with Guaiba and Kabazauls attacked directly. He made Ragia in MP2. Summoned a Damsel but it got negated of course and set BTH from Duality. His turn he got Warning from Duality, omg! My turn I drew Heavy Storm!!! I also got Damsel in hand, win!

Finals: vs. Orlando (TG Agent Angel) 0-0-

G1 = Zenmai loop dumped his hand.

G2 = He had Shadow Mirror. But was able to draw Heavy Storm a couple of turns later so was able to do Damsel loop into Zenmai loop to dump his hand.

Final Result: 1st Place. Got 2 ORCS packs and a TP. Pulled a 3D Chaos Hope and an Ulti Exa-beetle. TP as usual is crap.

Good way to start the new year! :D Free cards, free tournament, tournament win, and holo prizes!