Card count, advantage, and running conflicting cards.

This is probably one of my more serious entries, but important nonetheless. Don't get too bored, okay? Stick with me on this one and I'm pretty sure you'll get a lot out of it. Alright, let's get started.

One of the most important components of becoming better in this game has to do with the concept of card count, advantage and the art of running conflicting cards within the same deck. A lot of players try to beat their opponent in the mile instead of trying to win the race.

Some times taking damage from a direct attack is not always a bad thing. For example, you're opponent has a Stratos out on the field; you have a Thunder-King in hand and a face down Dimensional Prison. I know a lot of players who would remove the Stratos from play with D-Prison instead of making the smart play--take damage and run over the Stratos next turn with Thunder King. Although you'll take 1800 damage, you save a valuable resource for later in the game. Damage means less than advantage in the long run if you're able to keep a good position, right? Right.

A player also has to understand when going plus and minus is important. It's okay to minus if it will cause you to break even or plus in the next turn. For example, Book of Moon is obviously an immediate minus. But if it leads to you destroying an opponent's monster via an attack, then it becomes a plus which breaks even.

Pete Navaro's deck is a great example of plus and minus. He ran 3 Volcanic Shell, which allowed him to plus throughout the game and allowed him to be able to minus when it was necessary. When you're up in advantage, minus cards such as Effect Veiler become 10x better for the simple fact that you have room to minus, which is an important concept to understand.

The next thing I want to talk about is the idea of running conflicting cards in the same deck, which is something that a lot of good players know how to do. Obviously, a Lightsworn deck revolves around special summoning, so why would a Lightsworn player play cards like Royal Oppression? Here's why: A good player knows how to set up their field and when to play certain cards. First of all, in a 44 card Lightsworn deck chances are that you will hardly draw the Oppression or it will get milled throughout the duel. However, if you do end up drawing it a good player will first create a powerful position on the field (via special summoning and etc.) then sit on Royal Oppression and wreck their opponent. As long as you know when to play certain cards you should be fine. A BAD player will set Royal Oppression first turn, activate it next turn, then realize how screwed they are because they can't special summon. Don't do that, okay? Not smart, not smart.

Other common decks that run conflicting cards are decks like Gadget Stun. 3 Thunder-Kings are usually staple in this deck; if you guys didn't already know, Thunder-King doesn't let you search with your Gadgets. So why would you play them both in the same deck? The simple fact that TK usually is a 1st turn opener makes it a good card in Gadgets. More than likely it will be removed from the field the next turn anyway and clear the way for your gadgets; if it doesn't get removed then let it act as a beat stick until it's gone. Seems easy--I'd say.

The last thing I want to talk about are cards that instantly create a plus or force your opponent to waste resources to break even. The first and best card that comes to mind is Breaker the Magical Warrior.

Breaker the Magical Warrior ATK/1600 DEF/1000

When this card is Normal Summoned, place 1 Spell Counter on it (max. 1). This card gains 300 ATK for eachSpell Counter on it. You can remove 1 Spell Counter from this card to destroy 1 Spell or Trap Card on the field.

I'm pretty sure I didn't need to display what it does, but I did it just incase someone might not actually know. Plus, I'm way too lazy to copy and paste a picture of the card. But I do digress. Basically, this card is either an instant +1 or breaks even. Haha--breaks even. Get it? I guarantee you that one of two things will happen when you normal summon this card:

A) You're opponent will waste a Bottomless, Book of Moon, Solemn Warning, etc. on him just so they won't go minus in the long run.

B) You will actually get to use his effect and blow up a spell or trap thereby going plus.

BEST case scenario you will run over an opponent's monster THEN blow up a face down and +2 as a result. That's always fun. Most people don't understand that going plus early in the game can almost always determine the winner. Why do you think winning the dice roll matters?

But yeah, that's all for today. I talked a lot and wasn't visually appealing to anyone due to lack of pictures. But hey, my words can be just as entertaining sometimes. Definitely go check out my Youtube channel. I have over 1,000 subs now. Awesome much? I appreciate everyone who has followed me since my measly 300 subscribers. Thanks for reading guys =]

Oh yeah, I should probably post a link to my channel; it might help: www.Youtube.com/tyl3n0lpm

What REALLY happened at YCS San Jose

So, I apologize for uploading this late but blogspot screwed up my post, so it's not my fault.

Instead of writing a detailed description of what happened, I'll just lay out the basics.

Nothing important happened all day, seriously--well, until the fight. If you guys haven't seen the fight yet, go check it out on my channel www.youtube.com/tyl3n0lpm.

Aside from that, the only special news is the deck that ended up winning, which was an Anti-Meta Gemini deck. Most people don't know what the deck list consisted of, so here it is:

Angel Flores (1^st – Gemini)

Monsters: 16

1 Elemental Hero Stratos

3 Elemental Hero Neos Alius

2 Honest

2 Effect Veiler

1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness

2 Doomcaliber Knight

2 Thunder King Rai-Oh

2 Cyber Dragon

1 Banisher of the Radiance

Spells: 15

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Nobleman of Crossout

1 Allure of Darkness

2 Book of Moon

1 Nobleman of Extermination

1 Reinforcement of the Army

1 Monster Reborn

1 E – Emergency Call

3 Pot of Duality

3 Gemini Spark

Traps: 10

3 Solemn Warning

2 Bottomless Trap Hole

2 Dimensional Prison

2 Hero Blast

1 Torrential Tribute

Side Deck: 15

1 Solemn Judgment

1 Royal Oppression

1 Mind Crush

2 Starlight Road

2 Gottoms’ Emergency Call

1 Super Polymerization

2 System Down

1 Nobleman of Crossout

2 Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo

2 Consecrated Light

Extra Deck: 15

2 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

1 Dragon Knight Draco-Equiste

1 Elemental Hero Gaia

1 Elemental Hero Absolute Zero

1 Cyber Twin Dragon

1 Black Rose Dragon

1 Flamvell Uruquizas

1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

1 Ally of Justice Catastor

1 Goyo Guardian

1 Magical Android

1 Mist Wurm

2 Stardust Dragon

Notice that he main decked 2 Effect Veiler, 3 Solemn Warning, and 3 Pot of Duality. I'm extremely surprised that Blackwings lost to this deck because they should have a good matchup against any Anti-Meta type of deck. Anyways, that's the end of this. Stay tuned for the next post tomorrow. It'll be interesting, I promise.

YCS San Jose Decklist - Chaos Return

Alright, so I usually post deck profiles on my Youtube channel, but I had so much to talk about with this deck that I decided to blog about it. Sorry for all of you guys who actually like my videos, but it's worth the read. So, I'm considering running GB's for YCS San Jose, but I'm kind of leaning towards this deck. I believe that X-Sabers will be the most common deck played next to Lightsworn & GB's, which this deck has a pretty good matchup against. Here's the deck list as of right now (it'll probably change before YCS)

Monster: 23

2x Chaos Sorcerer

3x Cyber Dragon

2x Thunder King Rai-Oh

2x Dimensional Alchemist

2x Honest

2x Effect Veiler

1x Dark Armed Dragon

1x Gorz the Emissary of Darkness

3x Caius the Shadow Monarch

2x Battle Fader

1x Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind

1x Plaguespreader Zombie

1x Sangan

Spells: 9

3x Book of Moon

1x Enemy Controller

1x Cold Wave

1x Giant Trunade

1x My Body As A Shield

1x Mystical Space Typhoon

1x Monster Reborn

1x Dark Hole

Traps: 7

2x Bottomless Trap Hole

2x Trap Stun

1x Solemn Warning

1x Solemn Judgment

1x Torrential Tribute

1x Return From the Different Dimension

Alright, so before I talk about certain tech in the build, I want to point out that the deck is 41 cards. Not a lot of people like it, but I feel like that extra card just gives the deck a little more advantage. Now let's talk about the deck.

The monster count is at 23, which I think is key. In this deck, it's important to draw monsters since you have the ability to spam the field. 3 Cyber Dragon really helps you make aggressive pushes early on & baits out Bottomless, Thunder King, and will help against the occasional Machina deck. The light:dark ratio is 11 light : 10 dark (8 if you count out Fader). However, Chaos Sorcerer will end up adding to your dark count as long as it doesn't get bottomless'd. If you notice, the majority of the 'power cards' are mainly light monsters, while the dark monsters require more of a set up. 2 Thunder Kings are great first turn and make your opponent go out of their way to get rid of it; summoning him first turn puts stress on an X-Saber player who likes to play aggressively. Now, here's where the deck gets 'techy'.

Effect Veiler - I like this card at 2. A lot of people say that it's best played at 1, but I think 2 will ensure that you draw it more often. It stops Boggart, Hyunlei, Faultroll, DaD, Caius, etc. Plus, you can use it with Gorz to synch for a level 8 if you absolutely have to.

Honest - I usually open with Cyber Dragon & either Thunder King or Alchemist. Honest just surprises my opponent and lets me get over stupid things like Gottoms and randomness. Also, it protects you when your opponent plays Cold Wave or Trap Stun, which are staples in every deck now.

Caius - The fact that I run Caius isn't a tech choice, but the fact that I'm running 3 is. Everyone is hesitant to play this card at 3 because of Effect Veiler. Here's how I look at it. The majority of the time, they won't have an Effect Veiler in their hand when you drop Caius. But if they do, then your Caius just became a Thestalos. Aside from this deck, Effect Veiler makes most players go -1 in advantage when they use it on cards like Caius.

Plaguespreader - Good card right now. It helps with graveyard control and is extremely helpful when you play RFTDD (Return From the Different DImension).

Now, on to the spells; Book of Moon has to be ran in 3. It's chainable and stop your opponent from synchro'ing, and stops X-Saber combos. Enemy Controller is a very underrated card right now. Trap Stun is being main decked at 2 in almost every deck, so this card really helps. Plus, it's good against GB's and can stop X-Saber combos. (If you haven't noticed, I like stoping X-Saber combos). If you noticed, I chose to only play 1 MST. I don't like blind MST'ing, and I run a Cold Wave, Trunade, My Body, and 2 Trap Stun. My Body As A Shield is in here as appose to Starlight Road. SR doesn't really have a purpose anymore b/c Heavy Storm is gone & Trap Stun is becoming more popular. My Body protects you from all the same things as SR but can also negate Smashing, Fissure, and other 1-for-1 removal. I'm not worried about Hyunlei because a smart X-Saber player will always Cold Wave first, so SR is useless.

The traps are pretty self-explainatory. Trap Stun is too good not to play right now. It turns off Oppression & other nonsense for a turn. I only play 1 Solemn Warning because I run Solemn Judgement and a RFTDD which are both high LP costs. Playing 2 always ended up a dead draw at some point. I might add a 2nd one though, so I'm not sure.

Basically, the deck has a lot of synergy and never really opens bad. It doesn't let me opponent make big pushes b/c I will always have an answer, especially against X-Sabers. If you guys have any suggestions, please drop a comment either here or on my channel. And again, sorry for those who enjoy my videos but I had WAY too much to talk about. So yeah, follow me on here and subscribe to my channel: www.Youtube.com/Tyl3n0lpm

Thanks for reading guys =]

Tech choices for the format (After reviewing YCS Toronto)

The beginning of every format os all tricky because no one knows what will be played at the next big event, which was the huge question before YCS Toronto--especially in my mind. A lot of speculation of the format took place, and the word around town was that X-Sabers were still good. I also want to mention that I did a deck profile on Sabers two weeks before YCS and told everyone that they were better than ever. Was I right? Anyways, I do digress. Point being, most players wait until the format begins to unveil itself before deciding which decks will be good.

As historyin this game hasshown us, the deck that usually wins the first SJC/YCS does not gets it's name in the spotlight anymore. I think that Sabers will fall in line with the past. Lazaro Bellido won YCS, we all know. However, I believe it was because of his interesting tech choices that no one expected: Effect Veiler, Debris Dragon, Pot of Duality, 2 Faultroll.

Everyone expected Boggart Knight to be played at 3 with the loss of Rescue Cat. I found Lazaros build to be very interesting, seeing how he played Sangan--a card which I thought lost it's purpose without Rescue Cat. However, he abused the ability to search for Effect Veiler and Debris Dragon. Just an interesting thing to keep in mind. In any event, I have a few ideas on cards to tech for the new format.

Last format, there were no questions asked about the battle between this card and Starlight Road. With Heavy Storm around, Starlight Road was a necessity. But this format, what does Starlight Road do that MBAAS can't do better? (For those of you wondering, MBAAS means My Body As A Shield.) Sure, Starlight Road summons a Stardust Dragon for you, but can't negate 1-for-1 removals such as Smashing Ground, Fissure, Bottomless, Thunder King, etc. I believer that this card should be main decked over Starlight Road, but SR should definitely be side deck

ed for match-ups like Blackwings and the occasional X-Saber deck.

This card has been seeing more and more play. I do like this card; the ability to negate any summon, inherent or not, is a great thing. However, I do not like the card being ran in two's if you are running Solemn Judgement also. If Solemn Judgment activates first, then one of your Solemn Warning's become dead. (I know, I used the word "solemn" a lot.) However, I veliever that this card could be played at 1, and another could be side-decked.

The last card I talk about will not need a picture. It's Trap Stun. I've always liked this card, and decks like GB's and whatnot have always used it. However, I've noticed how much of a necessity it is now. With Heavy Storm gone, this card has become a 2nd or 3rd Cold Wave. The only card this thing doesn't get around is Book of Moon. But that really isn't a huge card to worry about. I believe that Trap Stun should be main decked at at least 1--2 at the most. The card however, can be tricky to play. Sometimes, you want to make a push, then chain Trap Stun to their Mirror Force, Bottomless, etc. However, I think the smartest play is to always activate this card at the beginning of the turn. The only time that will be a problem is if they have a set Threatening Roar or Wobaku, but then again, who the hell main decks that?

Yeah, that's all for today's blog. Go check my Youtube Channel out. I have a GB deck list coming out. By the way, isn't it funny how I did a QuickDraw deck list for regionals, then EVERY major YugiTuber did a video on the deck? Ehh, it's just a coincidence, but some times I like to think that they copied me. Hehe. Dueces.