Note: This blog post is not meant to have overly harsh or negative criticism. I personally love the game and feel it has a brighter future under Konami. My goal is to adapt to any format given and excel, not complain about it. Any criticism given is intended to be constructive.
This continues the discussion of what Konami seems to want from the game (as opposed to what Konami wanted from Yu-Gi-Oh!).
There are now two Forbidden lists for the Yu-Gi-Oh! advanced format to take data from. I have noticed a few trends from the past two lists and have come to a few conclusions about what Konami wants from the game. It’s only when we understand what Konami is telling us that we can offer legitimate critiques of the list.
What has Konami Shown Over the Last Two Formats?
Many details are lost in the swirl of confusion and discussion of each new format. The most crucial bit that is lost in the chaos is what Konami itself is telling us. While players go around clamoring for old favorites to return and clearly broken monsters like Judgment Dragon and Dark Armed Dragon to vanish, it’s become pretty clear that Konami does not intend to head down this path. Look at the signs.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Pattern 1- “Boss” Monsters are Here to Stay
Dark Armed Dragon and Judgment Dragon are two of the best monsters ever printed in Yu-Gi-Oh! Both monsters are arguably better than Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning, a card that has been banned for years. The idea that BLS would be banned while JD and DaD run around at two copies is ridiculous.
However, Konami seems to like those ratios exactly where they are. There have now been multiple lists that refused to remove these two abominations of card design. Due to some ridiculous interpretation of Lightsworn data (which is ridiculous enough to warrant an entirely new blog post), Konami feels Judgment Dragon is fine at two because Lightsworn *needs* it to win (I disagree).
Yet I can’t help but agree with Konami’s boss-centric design decision. Games that feature these super powerful monsters lead to better players securing more play space, which then forces the other inferior opponent to drop their boss monster to equalize (this is all theoretically and ideally speaking). The superior player who then drops the last Judgment Dragon, Dark Armed Dragon, or other boss monster always wins.
Now the merit of this argument is disturbed because often the winning player does not draw the copy of Dark Armed Dragon or Judgment Dragon. One of my game losses at Nationals in the Lightsworn mirror came when my opponent summoned a freshly drawn Judgment Dragon versus my two Necro Gardna in the graveyard, set Beckoning Light, and four cards in hand. He then followed up with an Aurkus before milling two Wulfs and top-decking an Honest to win in two stunning turns.
The point of this story is to show that I have personally felt the sting of getting out-bossed by the opponent’s main win condition. Yet I still feel strongly that the current mechanic of having almost every top tier deck able to draw one or two copies of an extremely powerful monster is a good one (for game excitement purposes). Take a look:
1 Summoner Monk
1 Rescue Cat
2 Chaos Sorcerer
2 Gladiator Beast Gyzarus
1 Dark Armed Dragon
2 Judgment Dragon
I’m quite certain more of these will be added to the list. At the moment though, a truly powerful monster is a card that can clear both s/t’s and monsters (or answer any monster threat) while retaining card advantage. Each of these different bosses belong to different decks; it’s almost impossible to splash them all.
And I must say, the idea of every deck using 2 Gold Sarcophagus to find these powerful monsters, while struggling to force the opponent to drop his or her monster first to equalize, is rather appealing to me at the time.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Pattern 2- Konami (and George Bush) Doesn’t Care About Old Mechanics
Konami has basically abandoned a number of well-worn game mechanics. Fusion summons, Ritual summons, Flip summons, and Field Spells contribute to a growing list of game mechanics (stated in the original rule book) that have become increasingly worthless. In addition, other gimmicks Konami has introduced such as Spell Counters (making a brief resurgence), Union Monsters, and Gemini Monsters have been swiftly abandoned.
So we have a growing pile of festering trash that took up literally hundreds of design slots. These precious design slots could have been given to far better cards like playable WIND or FIRE support.
This is a design decision that I do not agree with. The game is not very healthy when all of the above-mentioned mechanics are scrapped in favor of Normal, Special, and Synchro summons. While the Synchro summon mechanic is extremely exciting and a breath of fresh air for all Yu-Gi-Oh! players, that doesn’t mean the other stuff has to be destroyed!
Cards like Advanced Ritual Art, King of the Swamp, and Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands were steps in the right direction. The next (logical) step was to create truly broken Ritual and Fusion monsters. These broken monsters would have had to avoid having field-clearing effects such as Demise, King of Armageddon, since OTK’s would then be created. But imagine Ritual monsters that let you activate to draw two cards per turn! Or Fusion monsters that let you special summon a level 4 monster from your deck each turn!
Imagine TCG exclusives and new OCG cards that actually turned fan favorites such as Gravekeepers, Fiends, FIRE, Harpie Ladies, and such into top tier decks! It would only take about five cards of support per archetype to transform a dead collection of trash from earlier sets into pure magic.
Choices are always good for the customer. Giving players the choice of playing their Elemental Hero fusion deck (top tier please) is a lot better than cramming literally thirty cards of Koaki Meiru support down everyones’ throats, right?
Yu-Gi-Oh! Pattern 3- Something has to Give
By all accounts, Konami has done an amazing job with the new list and the new design direction has revived the game from its dark days of RDS through SOI. However, there is a growing problem that is rather alarming. And without using hyperbole, it is a direction that threatens to kill the game or force a reboot.
Hopeless Dragon, XX-Sabers, Lightsworn, Blackwings, Flamvell, Vayu Turbo
These are all top tier decks that share one trait in common. All of these decks swarm the board with numerous monsters and can easily deal game-ending damage in one or two turns. Hopeless Dragon realistically (without the use of intricate combos) generates 5600 life points of damage in a turn. XX-Sabers can realistically pitch two or three cards from your hand while putting 5000+ points of damage onto the field. Lightsworn can legitimately put out an easy 4400 (Celestia with Wulf) or 6100 (JD + Lumina) damage in one turn. Blackwings can summon five monsters in a single turn and win the game, consistently. Flamvell (a future threat) have access to a normal spell that can put out 8000 damage onto the field by itself, and realistically. Vayu Turbo turns a Dark Grepher into 4000 points of damage. Throw in a Burial from the Different Dimension and you have nearly lethal damage.
All of the frightening above scenarios are 1-3 card combos that the decks are consistently set up to achieve. The game is getting too fast and there is a growing threat that Konami, in its attempts to sell new sets, will continue to introduce cards that special summon far too frequently for far too low a cost.
If this path continues, something has to give.
Related posts:
The game will have to reboot if this trend continues. At this point most good players don’t even buy packs. Buy the singles u need and move on.
I’ve maintained that the boss monsters are good for the game. Here’s my take on “Boss Monsters”
They generate excitement and unpredictability which is appealing to most players.
They allow for iconic monsters that help promote product through marketing.
And in the words of good old Uncle Ben, with great power comes great responsibility
As Jae said, the better player will utilize the boss in a better fashion and be more successful with it.
Bosses make YuGiOh, YuGiOh!
Of course, there are several criticisms that can be made of this.
The current “problems” with boss monsters
-continuing with famous movie quotes, “there can only be one”. A ban list that doesn’t restrict bosses to 1 hurts the game. It dilutes the theme (the boss should be viewed as a unique monster, not unlike MTG’s (and Pokemon’s) “legendary” creatures. People get angry when multiple bosses get played (particularly in the same turn). It generates the feeling of “unfairness”.
-Konami R and D feel that boss monsters should not use the normal summon limitation. I don’t know why they developed this notion. I’m assuming its because they don’t want generic recursion of the boss (although totally moot when you can play multiple copies of said boss and cards that bypass normal requirements such as Phantom of Chaos)
-Generic boss monsters. Bosses shouldn’t be generic. They don’t add flavor to any theme, because they don’t follow a theme. Bosses should not be splasable. Its unhealthy for the game’s “lore” and unhealthy for the metagame.
-Bosses as game enders. This is not necessarily a “problem”. Most people think of the summoning of the boss monsters as a “quest”. You must perform “tasks” along the quest to complete it. Once completed, the reward is victory.
The prototypical example is “Exodia”. The tasks of the quest is to collect the piece. The goal of the quest is to acquire the 5 piece and “obliterate” the opponent
It seems that almost every boss monster in YGO has had to follow Exodia’s lead. I don’t think it has to be that way. In MTG, there are many weak supportive “legendary creatures” that can contribute to flavor to the theme as well as providing a supportive role on field.
However, the “average” YGO player (ie. children) follow the “bigger is better” mentality, and it is likely that Konami will continue this pattern of boss monsters.
I agree with DuelGod, Konami wastes it’s time producing so many worthless cards. If you follow the 80:20 rule I’m sure that, at its best only 20% of any booster series is useful at all. Wasting my money is not something I’m a fan of and I’d much rather spend money on a guaranteed item than waste my money buying something that will result in 80% of it being worthless.
Just to touch on one thing. While a well written and argued piece, I feel you were being disingenuous when you say Konami doesn’t care about old mechanics. I don’t know how familiar you are with future sets (I assume you are well informed), but Spell Counters and Geminis both see an increase in support. Moreover, field spells and field spell support continue to be released. (Ancient Fairy Dragon, Psuedo Space, Ancient Forest, etc.). Heck, there is even ritual support in the upcoming set and Spirit support in former 5D’s sets.
While we can argue the success or failure of the support released, it does not change the fact that all these old mechanics have not been entirely abandoned.
I completely agree that it is increasingly problematic that newer successful decktypes can deal 75% game damage with ease. Band-aid fixes like Gorz, Trag, and Necro Guardna can only do so much.
Nice read…got some great points
Are you serious Ben?
You are listing Ancient Fairy Dragon (a random incoherent card), Pseudo Space, and Ancient Forest over the course of say 10 sets as examples of field spell “support?” I think they’re more like random afterthoughts.
As for Spell Counters and Geminis, how much support has been printed from TAEV or MFC or whatnot and now? I think it’s fairly accurate to say they abandoned the mechanic other than a few spot cards here and there (that were more random than intentional).
Proportionally, yes, they have been abandoned. (Sweet…more Koaki Meiru support /sarcasm). But I do think they are paying the abandoned mechanics more attention now than they have recently. Baby steps?
I think everyone would agree with you, myself included, that these concepts should not have been abandoned so easily. I was just playing Devil’s advocate, really.
Awhile ago, I was really happy to hear that Konami was going to releasing several pieces of “Legacy Support” – cards made in newer sets to support older themes.
They did. The problem was it was not good enough nor was it plentiful enough. When they gave us that cycle of mosters that let you discard them to find their related field spell(GK Commandant, Warrior of Atlantis, etc.) I was soooooo stoked. But that was like the last legacy support I heard of. I mean, it’s started to trickle through a little more; Ojama cards, Arcanite Magcian for instance. But we need more and better.
A Volcanic synchro. MORE NINJAS(I’m partial to this, I know)! Better/more Spirit support. New Unions(like Armory Arm SHOULDA been). Dark Scorpion stuff. TRUE Archfiend support.
There are SOOOOO many things that Konami could be doing to make the game less stale. All those old ideas are attributes and properties they should really be utilizing. But instead they do things like make 4 packs of plant support in a row that all do essentially the same thing…
I mean, it could just be so much cooler.
A good read Jae.
I disagree with the general idea of boss monsters being a good thing, at least for the moment. This is because it forces, essentially, a world where every deck must have its own playable boss monster that can stand up to the likes of DAD and JD in order to have any chance in the competitive arena. I do not feel that this is something to be encouraged in the developement of competitive play. However, this is easily something that could be fixed via better card design.
Example: Rainbow Dragon. Boss monster for Crystal Beasts that is basically unusable. Imagine if Rainbow Dragon was as destructive and easy as Gyzarus, Dark Armed, etc. Would this make CB’s more competitive? Certainly it would. That’s not to say it would make them Tier 1 right way, but it would certainly give them a much needed bump. When Konami decides to start boosting older themes by giving them equal bosses, then I’ll be in favour of them. As it stands, they just create an impassable wall to every other deck that doesn’t have them, and I dislike that.
This brings me onto your second point, which I agree more or less totally with. The game is positively infested with themes that are lacking in what they need to make the truly competitive, because Konami gets bored of them and moves onto the next one. If, instead of releasing new themes every set or two, they devoted those set slots into making older themes more viable, the game would be in a far better position. The odd card here or there isn’t enough (example: Pseudo Space for fields).
Your final point, about Swarms and game speed, is also one I agree with. The reason DSF was rightly banned was because it turned swarms of monsters into an OTK or 2TK. But DSF would have been far less abused in a game where you simply couldn’t summon that many monsters, right? But since Konami has realised that power = profit, they’re printing obscenely broken cards (looks at Judgement Dragon) and leaving them legal even after the set containing said cards is sold out. The existence of such cards, which are often bosses, completly destroy any theme that doesn’t have them (pretty much my reasons for not liking them), essentially splitting the game in half. It’s now about beating your opponent as quickly as possible, because if you don’t you risk him or her drawing their power cards and doing the same to you. The game needs a reboot right now, but Konami won’t do it until the problem becomes unbearable. Which, if history is any guide, it will.
I will have to disagree on the abandonment of other game mechanics by Konami. It is the players that do not use game mechanics that have abandoned them.
The reason it seems that Konami is not still pumping out Unions and Gravekeepers is that not that many players are using them in abundance. They see where the players are going and use those as the selling points. The player base uses in big events the stand alone cards more than things involving field cards or spell counters. The mechanics are then given a push in Structure Decks such as the Spellcasters and the upcoming Warrior deck.
Konami does not forget about the mechanics….the player base does since they are not able to win with them competitively. If someone made a deck that won a SJC using a Field Card or using Union monsters, then players would start looking towards those avenues. Until then, Konami will put out cards here and there that use the prior game mechanics and players will see it as useless.
Just my thoughts.
Have fun
PS- what would your ideal Ban/Restrict List look like and what reason would you add/limit/remove such and such card(s)? Been curious about this since you said you were going to post your ideals in a Pojo Article some time ago.
I see a few things that Konami could do to help our scenario of boss and theme support.
1.) Have a condition that only allows you to use one of a specific boss in a deck (for example, Judgment Dragon would be Dragon/Effect/Legend). This would give Konami a way to easily promote big beatstick with good effect monsters in both the T.V. show and as set centerpieces.
2.) Release more structure decks based around older themes. Who wouldn’t like to see a decent Gravekeeper Structure Deck with some extra support? They don’t even have to have much new support, just make an entire theme available in a relatively cheap package.
3.) Give each theme certain benchmarks.
1-A good field spell (Optional, but would be cool with some themes)
2-A good draw spell (Optional, but it would be much appreciated)
3-A mechanic that makes a theme unique (Burn, Counters, S/T immunity)
4-Several good cards that support benchmark three (Such as recruiters, beatsticks, S/T removal, and one for one card removal)
5-A good boss monster that is a culmination of the usage of benchmark three for a mid-late game big Legend drop
How many themes actually have enough of these benchmarks? Blackwings, Aliens (which are easily tier 2-1.5 if built right), Lightsworns, Destiny Heroes, and Gladiator Beasts. All of these (with the notable exception of Aliens) have proven themselves at all levels of competition. If Gravekeepers had a better focus on what they were trying to do and had a boss monster, wouldn’t they do better? If Harpies had a 1 for 1 spinner and an awesome boss monster, I wouldn’t be surprised if they did better too.
I agree with not buying packs because they are mostly a waste of money. I had the experience of buy packs to try and pull a DSF while it was still alive and I wasted at least $30 something bucks for those packs and guess what I pulled useless cards only because they had no value due to Konamis lack of support for those cards. I could had gotten a DSF for at least $24 when it was still at that price. This game has gotten worst and worst in deck building wise because there are no support for most decks and they are not even playable. When you start Yugioh everyone has to play a top tier deck because if you don’t your not going to be going very far and you won’t be enjoying anything from this game. It has gone really ridiculous so far and if nothing is done about it the game will surely die. I’ve been playing to long and saw many people leave the game because of Upperdeck but now Konami has the chance to change it or it will all fall down.
I agree with you that Konami need to stop introducing new, broken archetypes such as Blackwings and X-Sabers and new, bad archetypes such as Koa’ki Meiru and instead give more support to much older decks such as Archfiends, Gravekeeper’s, and Rituals. Decks like Fusions and Ninjas would need a bit more support, but it would still be worth it to have older and more fun deck types kicking around in tier three.
Rituals finally have the cards they’ve been begging for in Stardust Overdrive, so that’s something great to look forward to, but there’s only a few Ritual Monsters actually good enough to use, besides in their obvious archetype they were designed for (‘Lycanthrope’ and ‘Cu’Chulainn’, for example).
I can’t see much more real “support” Field Spells there can really be outside of ‘Demise of the Land’, ‘Field Barrier’ and ‘Minefield’… Any thoughts?
I don’t know how X-Sabers are “broken”… Only half are any good, aside from the Synchros (especially Wayne).
I’m amazed they opted out of giving monsters that are obviously ninjas “Ninja” in their names… That was always weird…
And I’m gonna throw this out there again.
A nice, fresh change of pace would be if they actually gave us the Speed World stuff. Game reviewers that have had to review the WC09 game that really don’t like this card game gave big thumbs up to the “Riding Duel” concept, which is probably because in such a case it brings most players to the same level. All those archetype-specific Spells – gone. Every has access to the same pool of Speed Spells. The only uniqueness would be the Monsters you pick and the Traps to support them.
Yeah, and Earthbound Immortals would get that 1 push they need to be tough, since you can’t remove the Field Spell, and that ‘Resurrection’ card from Ancient Prophecy would mae them even tougher XD
I’m just sayin’…
Dishin: I disagree completly. Konami is the one responsible for the state of the game, not the players. You cannot blame players who spend (often a lot of) money on this game for wanting to build the best deck possible when there are prizes to be won. Some decks are invariably better then other decks, therefore people play them. But if they were better supported, people would play the lower Tier decks because they’d have more of a chance. If Konami is just printing what sells, then it proves that they’re more worried about money then they are about the state of the game.
It’s not possible to win a high-level competition using Field Spell decks or Unions because they are not adequetutely supported. Therefore, if we adopt your logic that Konami should wait for the players to do something before further supporting them, none of these decks would EVER get anymore support because they can’t win anything as they are. What you suggest means the best decks get better, while everything else that can’t function just gets further and further behind.
That’s not the right way to do it- it should be done in reverse. Look at what’s not being used (Gravekeepers, Fish, etc, etc), and ask “why are people not playing this theme? What does it need to make people play it?” Then print said cards. The decks that are already winning should not be further supported over lower tier themes, because they’ve already proven they can win with the support they have. Your way, and seemingly Konami’s way, only promotes the divide between decks, when we should be trying to bridge it as much as possible.
Well, what should be done about that, Swmystery? You can’t just say what you feel needs to be done, you should say how you think it should be accomplished…
A lot of said decks have what it takes to be competitive, they just can’t quite fill the Field as fast (some of that is “fixed” in Stardust Overdrive).
So really, the way I see you saying things should be righted is for everyone to say “You know what? These 4 archetypes are so good, they’re boring. I’m going to switch to Frogs, or Fish Synchro, or Demon Roar Gods, or Genex, or Flamvell, or Dinos/Jurac, or Necrovalley, or Harpies, or Batterymen, or Antique Gears, or Worms/Reptiles, or Naturals, or Ice Boundary, or Valley of Haze, or Heroes, or Machines, or Unions, or Geminis, or Endymion, or Zombies, or Rocks, or Plants, or even Toons”. Right?
ShadowQueen, I don’t think that’s what he was trying to say at all. I think what he was trying to say is that instead of people saying that the cards are boring, Konami should look at the archetypes NOT being used (ie, frogs, harpies, gravekeepers, batterymen, etc etc) and determine WHY they’re not being used, and in future sets, release cards to support them. Then, those archetypes may someday become usable on a competitive level. The other decks would remain relatively where they are, tier wise, but some of the “lesser” archetypes would get a much-needed boost and bring something new back to the dueling table.
i think the problem really is splashable bosses really JD isnt a problem but dark armed is because hes splashable, the really competitive decks take the best from other decks and its not konami’s fault for not realizing that every deck with a couple of darks would run dark armed dark creator and so on basically the good decks now arent good on their own their good with the help of cards that have nothing to do with their theme such as monarchs, teledad, synchro cat,debris-hime,and now hopeless dragon with with only about 10 dragons(more or less depending on ur build), even chaos from the old days. my point is some boss cards jus make good decks broken, if blackwings jus used blackwing monsters they wouldnt be that good,and the same goes for alot of themed decks.
“Well, what should be done about that, Swmystery? You can’t just say what you feel needs to be done, you should say how you think it should be accomplished…”
I did say that, actually. Look at what each individual theme needs to be competitive, then give it to them. In short, it’s accomplished by better card design on Konami’s part.
“A lot of said decks have what it takes to be competitive, they just can’t quite fill the Field as fast (some of that is “fixed” in Stardust Overdrive).”
Depends on your definition of what it takes to be competitive. Mine is normally that it has the ability to beat the top decks fairly consistently. If they can’t fill the field fast enough with what they need, then they probably aren’t competitive.
As for your last statement, I’m arguing against that idea, not for it. I’m saying players don’t and shouldn’t have to run any particular deck for that deck to be supported. It has nothing to do with being bored of any deck at all. What I’m saying is “As it is these themes cannot compete. So rather then bring out endless new themes, support the older ones.” That’s how I think things should be righted.
@ Dishin: In order for players to take the themes to SJCs and such and win, the theme has to be worth a damn in the first place.
If they made the theme good enough to play with, guys would jump on board. Then Konami would respond, hopefully.
Jae I agree with the general thought of your post. There are some key points that you are missing even from your previous post before the ban was released.
Theme support in yugioh has always been one sided. I bring this up so that you can realize the balance in the game that Konami is trying to establish. Warriors have been the dominant theme throughout followe by spellcasters. The idea of “boss” type cards is by no means a new idea. Dark Magician, Blue Eyes, Jinzo and so on were the “Boss” types of their time. With game ending/changing stats or effects these were the monsters that early players manipulated.
I do agree that old mechanics are dying and many of them should not. However the game needs this to become more “available” to all duelist. I personally don’t like playing anything but Fiends. Unfortunately, until late there wasn’t a game changing Fiend that could really pose a threat like a JD or DAD. With that said I also agree that we should not abandon classic Fusions or Ritual summons, but other than complain to Konami about their poor choice in these particular game design flaws we can see a much more open competetive arena.
Your assesment of Hopeless Dragon, XX-Sabers, Lightsworn, Blackwings, Flamvell, Vayu Turbo is very interesting to me. Consistancy is truly the mark of a great deck and when I look at these aside from Hopeless dragon and BW pre-ban I don’t see that.
I’ll say it flat out XX-Sabers will see a lot of play when the season begins again BUT, there will be a handful of very smart players who will simply tech the wide range of anti-discard cards available now. From Dark World to the Gemini Imps. I’m not saying Dark World will come back (THOUGH I WISH TO FREAKING YUGI THEY WOULD MAKE SOME BLASTED SUPPORT OTHER THAN IN THE FORM OF TRAPS FOR THEM!!!) but it will be enough to curb the brokeness that was once hand control.
Lightsworn will NEVER be consistant. I will give you a $100 bucks if without the printing of anymore support cards (so only with what exists now) if it ever does. You have to understand that LS is only a more supported version of Dark World…
The changes that are being made are very interesting when you look at great cards that have never been played in mainstream because they were support for specefic archtypes.
Jae, your blog in my humble opion is very healthy for the game. You are asking and making all of the points many players have made before but in a very open and public forum. great job!
Most people who play this game play to win just as much(if not more so than) as they play to have fun. So I think Konami should give support to lower decks if they ever want to see them played, which I hope they do.
I’ve always played this game more for fun than to be a pro at it. That’s why I’ve been glad to see this list, but it doesn’t give those other archetypes any more of a chance, sadly. There will be new support for Core Chimails, Fish, Six Samurai, Lightsworn, and even another Earthbound support card as TCG-X in SOVR, but it won’t do quite enough…
Though there are boss monsters for most archetypes, and they really do have effects that can swing the duel in your favour, they’re just unable to reach the heights of DAD and JD unsupported (i.e. ‘Great Shogun Shien’, ‘Coelacanth’, ‘Reign-Beaux’, ‘Harpie Lady Sisters’ + ‘Triangle Ecstacy Spark’; they can give you control of the situation, but none can surpass DAD’s 2800, although ‘Coelacanth’ gives you at least 1 ‘Red Dragon Archfiend’ and 1 ‘Stardust Dragon’ to counteract the other two Dragons… I want to include ‘Volcanic Doomfire’ and those huge-ATK Dinosaurs, but they both need more support to even think of trying…).
And I’d be totally up for Speed World too, Shadowqueen. A new set of rules, new ways of strategizing, those top decks would be slowed or neutered (aside from GBs), it would be nice to at least “beta-test” it and give it a shot…
Sup Jae “Sex Bomb” Kim.. Just wanted to say sexy job on this, your yugioh strategy site.. Also, I wanted to say I miss the game and when I get back to the states its time to duel..
P.S. “Insert your dirty thoughts about Rhymus Lizo here.”
Your site is so awesome.. You make me wanna become a better player.. Even more a better person.. You’re so awesome Jae..
You ignored Zombies. Zombies are more than capable of putting 5000 or more points of ATK with just 3 Monsters. Zombie Master can generate 3000 or more points of ATK without losing advantage, while gaining tempo, and Mezuki with Plaguespreader Zombie can Synchro Summon a Goyo Guardian and a Revived King Ha Des with ease.
The fact that Plaguespreader Zombie is Restricted should not affect the success of the Deck, as this is similar to Gale being Restricted; And even though the Deck lost its Card of Safe Return, and can still use Allure of Darkness, and gain advantage with its Turtles and Goblins with multiple Synchro Summons, Creature Swap, etc…
I mostly play just to have something to do. Of course, maybe going to Nats shows a that I like the game a little more than that.
Wow Rhymus Lizo. Way to suck up to the blog owner.
I think that Konami wants Yu Gi Oh to be a little more fair. They also want to give me three of every Yu Gi Oh card up to date and give me a load of cash along with Metal Gear Solid 4 and Rising when that comes out. What really grinds my gears is when you lose something. Then someone asks you where you lost it. If I knew where I lost it, would I be wondering? Anyways, Jae Kim, man, I love you man, you made me look at Yu Gi Oh in a different way.
Hello everyone! There have been a lot of talk about Gravekeeper decks in this article. I am one of the few that have run Gravekeepers for over five years. I have won a few local tournaments in New York City with them but I never traveled to Shonen Jump to truly test the deck. The problem with GK is fact that they have not been given any direct support in years. (A 1800+ beatstick or spell of trap that allow them to draw or destroy monsters would be nice.) The only support that have come out for GK is splashable support such as Deck Devestation Virus, which is one of the most underrated and underuseded card in yu-gi-oh right now. I have destroyed so many cat synchro decks with DDV going off and many players never heard of the card.
Very good read.
This meta is definately going to be fast. Every new format and every list I hear people saying the list has slowed the game down, when in actuality this is not the case and wont ever be the case unless konomi starts paying attention to articles like this.
With the boss mechanic, I am fine with it. And really would not mind if “boss cards” were at two as long as they were not splashable (DAD) and a simple line was at the end of the text of those monsters: “You cannot enter your battle phase if you activate this effect”.
I think some people are looking at it the wrong way.
It is not that the Low tier decks are lacking Support, rather the high tier deck have too much support.
Some of my rants include:
Draw Power and Deck Thinning and Graveyard Dumping
– Draw Power is an increasing trend as a big requirement to win. The quicker you thin your deck out of cards that can be used in the graveyard, the more is your chance at getting your limited cards such as heavy storm, torrential, mirror force and such.
Easy counter to anything within a few turns as well as Easy big damage and mostly easy Destruction of cards on the field.
There are so many cards that have too easy of a time to destroy cards on the field that it feels like monsters attacking each other is not required anymore to even pass through the game moderately.
I have other rants but this post is long enough XP
I was an avid yu gi oh player and now I have secluded my self and became a casual one for the reason that yu gi oh is breaking apart.
Very amazing article, and the comments are even more amazing. Perhaps Konami isn’t printing more bosses because it feels that all decks already have access to big monsters in the form of Synchros?