Update and Elemental Heroes Revisited
Posted on Sunday, December 20, 2009
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Well exams for me are pretty much done. Which basically means I get extra time to write and work on my blog. I’m also still attempting to find someone to play WoW minis with me but none of my friends aren’t biting.
One of the things I wanted to do was bring up one of my favorite cards coming up in Absolute Powerforce, which I am not going to do at the moment. Why? Because I really do not feel like it. If you have to know the card is a ritual monster that has been fanlated into Galandorf Dark King of Destruction.
The card itself isn’t very good, but it certainly is one of my favorites. That is a story for another day. Instead I am going to talk about 3 cards that were just recently released in the OCG that have caught my eye. Those three cards (fanlated of course) are Elemental Hero Shining, Elemental Hero Great TORNADO, and Parallel World Fusion.
Elemental Hero The Shining 「Ｅ・ＨＥＲＯ Ｔｈｅ シャイニング」
LIGHT/Warrior - Fusion - Effect/8/2600/2100
1 "Elemental Hero" monster + 1 LIGHT monster
This card cannot be Special Summoned except by Fusion Summon. This card gains ATK equal to the number of your removed from play "Elemental Hero" monsters x 300. When this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard, you can select up to 2 of your removed from play "Elemental Hero" monsters, and add them to your hand.
Elemental Hero Great TORNADO 「Ｅ・ＨＥＲＯ Ｇｒｅａｔ ＴＯＲＮＡＤＯ」
WIND/Warrior - Fusion - Effect/8/2800/2200
1 "Elemental Hero" monster + 1 WIND monster
This card cannot be Special Summoned except by Fusion Summon. When this card is Fusion Summoned, halve the ATK and DEF of all face-up monsters your opponent controls.
Parallel World Fusion 「平行世界融合」
Normal Magic Card
Return removed from play Fusion Material Monsters of yours that are listed by an "Elemental Hero" Fusion Monster Card to the Deck, and Special Summon that 1 Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck. (This Special Summon is treated as a Fusion Summon.) During the turn in which this card is activated, you cannot Special Summon.
What makes me the most excited for these new cards is not because the cards have cool art or anything like that (although the art is amazing) but because the cards allow for an interesting new Elemental Hero deck that is able to become based on gaining card advantage rather than losing card advantage via huge fusions like Polymerization. What happens to the deck is that it ultimately loses Royal Oppression, but gains new ways to fuse and new ways to maintain card advantage.
Losing Oppression makes the deck less of an Anti-meta deck and more like a controlling powerhouse. I can’t say the deck becomes higher than tier 2 still, but it makes things more interesting. Here is a sample list with my idea.
Next Generation Hair Heroes
Monsters: 15
3x Elemental Hero Neos Alius
3x Elemental Hero Ocean
3x Honest
2x Elemental Hero Voltic
1x Elemental Hero Heat
1x Elemental Hero Stratos
2x Tragoedia
Spells: 16
3x Miracle Fusion
3x E – Emergency Call
2x Parallel World Fusion
3x Book of Moon
2x My Body as a Shield
1x Lightning Vortex
1x Future Fusion
1x Heavy Storm
1x Reinforcement of the Army
1x Mystical Space Typhoon
Traps: 8
2x Bottomless Trap Hole
2x Starlight Road
1x Solemn Judgment
1x Mirror Force
1x Torrential Tribute
Extra Deck:
3x Stardust Dragon
3x Elemental Hero The Shining
3x Elemental Hero Absolute Zero
2x Elemental Hero The Great Tornado
2x Elemental Hero Gaia
The most interesting and probably best card in the extra deck would be The Shining. Being able to cycle off into card advantage is key to the deck, as well as keeping Stratos cycled over and over again. The deck fixes the weakness of Stratos being RFG via bottomless trap hole. Essentially with the Shining this will not matter so much.
One of the potential problems I could see with the deck is drawing dead cards early on. While you want to see the fusion cards sooner rather than later seeing multiples in the early game could become a problem. Another minor conflict is between Parallel World Fusion and the Shining. It is not necessarily a matter of confliction though, it is just how you time using them.
Having Miracle Fusion and Parallel World Fusion just means going for a different option other than the Shining. The other card that this deck should be making a lot of use of is Absolute Zero because it also provides a ton of advantage in the face of cards like Brionic or just removal in general.
Granted this deck is by no means a finished product, but it does seem like it can create some interesting situations. It also offers a ton of recycling for one of the best monsters in the game (being Stratos). It will be interesting to see what these 3 cards can bring to the game.
(any card fanlations are taking from Shriek's OCG news site)
~E.P.B.
Oh Look, a Filler Post.
Posted on Tuesday, December 15, 2009
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So for the past few days I’ve been shacked up in my house with nothing to do. Having a dead car is anything far from tits, so I just haven’t been able to do anything. I haven’t had the tenacity or annoyance to write about anything involving serious gameplay at this point. There is one thing I’d like to cover briefly though and that would be Starlight Road.
If you don’t know what this card is by now then you are seriously reading the wrong competitive gaming/ mostly YGO blog. Anyway, this card will change things, probably how people play and possibly some card choices in the main deck etc. Granted this card will also make spotting bad players easier. I can not stress this enough how setting your whole hand is never good.
Many players disregard information as a form of advantage, and I’m fairly certain this will continue. So after I’m done being bored I will probably write my next post on information and why Heavy Storm is not the only reason you don’t set your whole hand.
~E.P.B.
I think I’ll spend some time previewing a new card from the next set in the mean time.
Card of the Week! Destiny End Dragoon
Posted on Saturday, December 12, 2009
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So I figured I could use a column or two for this blog. Just to make sure I’m still attempting to write things and so I’m not getting lazy. Today’s card of the week I am going to look at a personal favorite of mine. That card is Destiny End Dragoon.
Destiny End Dragoon
Stats: [Warrior / Fusion / Effect] LV10 ATK/3000 DEF/3000
Monster Class-Type: Dark
Card #: LODT-EN042
Description: "Destiny Hero - Plasma" + Destiny Hero - Dogma"
A Fusion Summon of this monster can only be conducted with the above Fusion Material Monsters. Once per turn, you can destroy 1 monster your opponent controls and inflict damage to your opponent equal to its ATK. If you activate this effect, you cannot conduct your Battle Phase this turn. During your Standby Phase, if this card is in your Graveyard you can remove from play 1 "Destiny Hero" card from your Graveyard to Special Summon this card.
So to start things off I am not going to do a standard rating for the card. Why? Because most yu-gi-oh cards are either bad or great, with a few mediocre ones in between, the in between ones are the ones I’m concerned about with this section. Which brings me to DED here.
If you notice, you’ll probably have to take a huge hit in card presence to bring this guy out, but after that point of getting by Bottomless Trap Hole, this guy becomes one of the best boss monsters in the game in my opinion. With that being said, a deck needs to be directly built around this guy to be worth anything.
Luckily a deck being built around the powerhouse is really easy. In fact it is fairly easy to get him out on the first or second turn since everything is searchable and the deck has a massive amount of draw power. The main problems are Bottomless Trap Hole and the huge hit in cards a player takes for bringing him out, it also doesn’t help that a lot of the cards in the deck are either combo pieces or draw cards, so the card utility is really on the low side.
So in conclusion, a deck built around this guy can go a few rounds at a locals, and probably win a tournament or two, but the deck just doesn’t have the staying power or versatility to be able to do anything above that capacity.
Match-up Analysis: The True Point of Playtesting
Posted on Wednesday, December 9, 2009
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Before the actual strategic content of this article, I just want to say a few words on the state of elevated discussion on this game. It’s practically non-existent. A quick comparison with Magic: The Gathering will show you what a sorry state our discussion is in. They have several sites devoted to high-level strategic content and more articles produced in a week then Yu-Gi-Oh has produced in several months. I’m not really interested in why this is, and I know there are several reasonable explanations. I just find it sad that there are so few resources in this game to help players get better (and of the few resources they do have, many simply cannot be trusted. Of the articles on this very site, most of them have either negligible actual strategic content or terrible content. Many of these articles see much praise, despite helping no-one). As such, I’ve decided to contribute what I can. I’m not the greatest player of this game, but I do bring a more scientific mind to the table then many Yu-Gi-Oh players, which should enable me to write articles that set up some form of discourse on the game. I’m not deluded here – I don’t expect anything I write to help my audience greatly; I’m not that good. I’m publishing these in a forum for a reason: I want to discuss the ideas in a rational manner, and hopefully raise the level of discourse about this game. With that being sad, the article:
Match-up Analysis: The True Point of Playtesting
Soon after a player begins playing this game competitively, the concept of playtesting is introduced to them. The idea, on its surface, is simple enough; you play games with the purpose of improving, rather than winning or simply having fun. Like many others, when I first discovered this concept, I didn’t understand it in its entirety. For several years, to me, the point of playtesting was to improve one’s deck, not one’s play skill. After all, this game is simple, and I’m good at it. I can’t get better, right? Wrong. Improving a deck is a facet of playtesting, and an important one, but not a particularly time consuming one. Decks that don’t work as intended are quickly identified when played, and can either be thrown by the wayside or tinkered with until a better form is found. This side of playtesting can be accomplished by playing against any deck, and is, I believe, where most players get stuck. Players play against whatever decks they can find to play against and keep tinkering with their deck, making small card swaps that, despite what they think, don’t actually change their deck that much. It is easy to fall into the trap of believing that only your own deck matters; after all, it is what you have the most control over.
True playtesting of a deck takes a deck that works reasonably well and plays it against specific decks, generally whatever is in the meta. Knowing your own deck is not enough, you need to know how it interacts with the decks you are likely to come across. And please, don’t think that I mean you need this information so that you can figure out how to sidedeck; I don’t mean that at all. It is true, but at an almost trivial level. Without knowing how the matchup he is playing in, how can a Lightsworn player decide if he should activate Necro Gardna on any given attack, or if he should use Honest to save his Jain? How can a Blackwing player determine whether or not he should Synchro summon Armor Master, or if the time is right to set his Torrential Tribute? These are all decisions that players do not link to match-ups enough of the time, and instead decide based on some other criteria, but are, in fact, best answered through knowledge of the match-up being played.
For example, last format, when playtesting Lightsworn vs Blackwings, I realized that Icarus Attack was a key card in that matchup. So key, in fact, that on the first turn of the game, I would prefer to play Lumina+ Aurkus rather than Lumina + Garoth. In a vacuum, Lumina + Garoth was a stronger play because of the potential to draw a card in the endphase. However, in that matchup (and, in fact, for the majority of Lightsworn’s matchups last format) Lumina + Aurkus was a field that was more conducive to victory, despite being theoretically weaker. This is the kind of knowledge that only playtesting can bring you.
Average to good players of this game play tactically – they look at their hand and field and their opponent's field / hand size and make plays based on what they feel would give them the best advantage under whatever advantage system they feel is the best (card advantage, LP advantage, hybrid, etc) at the time. Tactical playing really only requires knowledge of how your deck works and basic knowledge of what your opponents deck contains and how their cards work. This requires only minimal playtesting to understand your own deck, and is the level of play that most players are stuck on. I believe that the reason that many players think that this game takes no skill to play is because they are stuck at this level. This game's mechanics are not hard to comprehend, and understanding how cards interact and how to count is all that is required to play tactically, and it is therefore fairly simple.
Good to great players of this game play strategically – they use their knowledge of how a matchup works to influence their plays. They play to ‘critical positions’ from which they have determined, through playtesting, that they are favored. This is the true level of skill in this game. Having this kind of matchup knowledge allows them to make reads on what cards their opponent has based on the way they are playing and how their opponents deck has to play to counter theirs. Sometimes they make plays that are, to the eyes of a tactical player, suboptimal because doing so allows them to conserve resources for a push to a critical position, or to beat a critical position of their opponents. Playing strategically is difficult because the game of Yu-Gi-Oh is so dynamic: the game state changes radically all the time, and one must be able to identify and properly address all they key points of it every turn. No two games are identical, so this is not some kind of memorization of what happened in playtesting – it’s a true test of adaptive learning from playing the matchup.
Please, respond with any thoughts you have on tactical and strategic playing, and whether or not you think I’m crazy.
~Jake
[E.P.B. notes: for the record I think you're crazy]
An Extensive Guide on How to Side Deck Successfully
Side Decking is a skill that should be used by almost every competitive player once they realize that the game can be played on a competitive level. Side decking is designed to be a tool that a player has in their arsenal to improve upon a certain match-up no matter what that match-up may be. When a player dives into his or her side-deck he wants to change things into his or her favor. There are currently a number of ways to do this but all of them attempt to achieve the same goal of disrupting an opponents strategy or counter Strategy. For today’s article I am going to touch on what I believe are the basics.
Every time you side deck you are attempting to make the match-up better. For starters, you have to know what kinds of cards are good against the predicted metagame. For this to work successfully you have to make a deeper read than just knowing what types of decks are standard in the format.
For example lets dissect and analyze the metagame calls and side-decking skills I utilized last format for the 2009 National Championship LCQ’s. First I present you with a decklist.
Lightsworn
3 Lumina Lightsworn Summoner
3 Wulf, Lightsworn Beast
1 Garoth Lightsworn Warrior
1 Lyla Lightsworn Sorceress
3 Necro Guardna
1 Plaguespreader Zombie
2 Judgement Dragon
1 Jain Lightsworn Paladin
1 Ryko Lightsworn Hunter
2 Celestia Lightsworn Angel
2 Arkus Lightsworn Druid
3 Honest
1 Herald of Creation
1 Gorz Emissary of Darkness
3 Charge of the Light Brigade
3 Solar Recharge
2 Monster Reincarnation
1 Heavy Storm
1 Monster Reborn
1 Crush Card Virus
1 Beckoning Light
3 Royal Decree
As you can see it is pretty much a standard Decree variant of Lightsworn. Decreesworn was not as popular as a standard Lightsworn variant that sided Decrees. The main reason being that the metagame did not call for it. My friend made an amazing metagame call at the LCQ event by suggesting that people would be playing G-beasts as a safe bet, Blackwings would probably be second most played, then Lightsworn, and then some weird anti-meta decks at the time. Most of these decks have a bad match-up against Decree Sworn (save for the actual Lightsworn variants) so the Decree’s were mained.
For the LCQ event my friends metagame call was spot on when I faced 2 Gladiator Beast Decks, 1 Anti Meta Deck, and 1 Lightsworn Deck. The metagame game call is more vital and important to the side deck than the main deck though. Main deck metagame calls can be a big gamble and is not always needed as the deck can still handle its own even if the call was right. What ends up happening if the metagame is wrong is that it can leave you with less than optimal card choices, or in the worst case scenario dead cards.
With that said, the second skill to remember in side decking is knowing what to side out versus what match up. The goal that you are trying to accomplish with this is have more optimal card choices in a match-up where this was not entirely possible before. The most important thing to remember here is optimize your card choices and effects while still maintaining a degree of synergy.
This is why I’m not a fan of cards like D.D. Crow and Mirror of Oaths. The cards to me feel too situational for what they provide, since they give little to no use outside of a very linear scenario, and they do singular things rather than affect the match-up directly. In side decking I like to think of these cards as Micros, since they effect the game state once, and are very singular in use and purpose. The cards I like to think are better are the Macros, or cards that I feel like effect the match up continuously, do multiple things for the match-up. Cards like these are Dimensional Fissure and Light Imprisoning Mirror, because they do something directly to the opponent and apply continuous pressure to the game state.
Now lets take a look at what my side deck actually looked like for the LCQ.
Side Deck:
3 Threatening Roar
1 Lyla Lightsworn Sorceress
1 Lightning Vortex
1 Brain Control
1 Ryko Lightsworn Hunter
2 Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
1 Giant Trunade
1 Beckoning Light
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Ehren Lightsworn Monk
2 Dust Tornado
The side deck continued with the metagame call, focusing on how most decks will be siding into Oppression or Dimensional Fissure. This format of course is different, but the main idea of most side decks you’ll come across and build is to side into Macro effects that continuously affect the match-up. Examples being Royal Oppression, Skill Drain, Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, and Light Imprisoning Mirror.
As you can see with the side deck in my example, the Macro effects for the expected meta are already mained, so the idea with this side deck was to include the original main deck choice of 3 Threatening Roars. This is mainly for the special occasion of when I actually had to play Cat Synchro in the LCQ, the other card choices in the side deck are cards that can increase my optimal card effects for when the 3 Decrees are not as effective, or do things to stop my opponents Macro effects. None the less, contrary to the example most side decks have their macro effects side decked rather than in the main deck,, unless of course that deck is an anti-meta variant.
Another aspect of side decking is using card choices that affect multiple match-ups. It is in this aspect that D.D. Crow would be greater than Mirror of Oaths, because the crow can be used against multiple deck types. The best effects in the side deck to look for are macro effects that have an effect on multiple match-ups. The great example of this would be Royal Oppression and Skill Drain , these cards have a lot of uses in various match-ups, making them incredible in the role that they play in side-decking. My personal view on it is:
Macro Effects (Multiple Match-ups)>Macro Effects (singular Match-ups) > Micro Effects (Multiple Match-ups)> Micro Effects (singular Match-ups)
Now that you have gotten what kinds of cards are best to put into your side deck, now we have to talk about actually doing it. First thing first, you should map out what your overall plan is for sidedecking. Having the list is great, but the most ideal thing when building a decklist is to also map out what you side in and out against expected matches in the metagame. Going back to the Lightsworn example, here is what I sided in and out for a Cat Synchro match-up last format
VS. Cat Synchro
-3 Decree
-2 Monster Reincarnation
-1 Ryko Lightsworn Hunter
+3 Threatening Roar
+1 Beckoning Light
+1 Lightning Vortex
+1 Ehren Lightsworn Monk
When making a decklist you should be mapping out what to side in and out as I’ve done here. Doing this lets you know immediately what to take out and put in without having to spend time during a match trying to figure out what to put in, and also helps prevent making costly decisions in between matches. It also helps build confidence in knowing your match and being prepared. Although a player should remember to leave room for variation when side decking, but having a general idea makes it a whole lot easier.
Expecting variance to the plan is important. After all coming up against a rogue deck could put a wrench in your side decking plans. When this happens it is important to recognize what cards in your side deck will help you maximize you strategy against the deck type you come across. This is sadly just one of those skills that you learn from practice, but a helpful tip is to recognize what the goal of the other deck is, and possibly recognize decks more commonly seen in the meta with same goal or strategy, and then side deck similarly to how you would against the meta deck.
The final aspect after having the deck put together, the side deck decided, and the general plan mapped out is playtesting the side deck. What this requires is setting up a gauntlet and playtesting games 2 and games 3. The difference between the two is crucial, because in each of them it changes who is going first. The reason this is important is because some cards are better in the opening rather than mid or late game. Cards like Thunder King (against Blackwings) and Dimensional Fissure (against Lightsworn) are examples of these cards because opening with them can mean a detrimental disruption to the opponent’s goal.
So what the side deck comes down to is a strategy and skill that is as important to the main deck. I feel like some players don’t recognize all of the skills needed for good deductive side decking. Like I have said, this is essentially just the basics.
~E.P.B.
Doing it Right: How to Get Better
Posted on Tuesday, December 8, 2009
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There are a lot of misconceptions about Yu-gi-oh competitive play, and most of these misconceptions are not only false, but said by people who say they get the game but in all honesty do not really understand the fundamental mechanics of how getting better at something works. But enough about bad players, the fundamental misconception about Yu-gi-oh is that it is a completely luck based game. Yu-gi-oh is a card game so luck plays a portion, but I can say with certainty that Yu-gi-oh is more skill based than luck based.
I’m hoping that makes everyone feel better. Personally, the idea that Yu-gi-oh is a skilled game is better than it being a luck based game. The main reason is because my skills in the game are controllable, where as luck is not. I think that a person controlling the outcome of his or her game is also the main reason that people want Yu-gi-oh to be a luck based game. By doing this a player can blame whatever losses they have to luck. Some losses are luck, but I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that a majority of games lost are due to skill differences between the two players more so than luck.
With that said, I feel like the first way to get better at the game is to just completely remove luck from a player vocabulary. Doing this will do a couple of things for a person. First of all it makes every single loss the losing players fault. It also opens up a more critical analysis of your own game, if something is your own fault then you can better analyze it and make sure you do not do it again.
The next step to this would be analyzing your game. As a player I know it is almost impossible to remember every play you do, but it is still possible to pay attention to the critical plays you have to make throughout the game. A player has to be able to recognize when a play could lead to his own defeat, or when a play is critical to the tempo and flow of the game.
A player should also be paying attention to some of the minor misplays that he makes, sometimes the minor misplays can effect the outcome of the game just as much as the big misplays. Minor misplays are also a lot more common than bigger misplays so it is important just as important to pay attention to those.
The next thing is to never assume that you have played a perfect game, even if you win. Assuming that you have played a perfect game can stunt growth as player and leave an analysis looking like it was completely blown off. If the immediate answer to the question “Did I misplay?” is no, then the player is probably doing something wrong with analyzing and should be more critical of their loss.
Winning does not mean you have played a perfect game either, and that is something people need to understand. Just because a player won does not mean that they made the right plays, and someone who is striving to get better needs to be just as critical of their wins as their losses. This is one of the most important things that players need to recognize. Winning does not mean you have played the perfect game and I cannot stress this enough.
In one of my earlier posts on this blog I commented on how everyone sucks. This is true and everyone needs to realize it. What I mean by that is that there are always ways to improve your game and that a crucial part of analysis is realizing that there are always ways to get better. So yeah, everyone sucks at this game.
The final important thing I would like to talk about is in game analysis. This is harder to do than out of game analysis because there is unknown information presented at the time. The best thing to do is to analyze the outcomes of the plays you are able to make, and then pick the play that has the most best possible outcomes. This is hard to do on the fly though and may take some extra attention, but eventually it is possible that it just becomes a subconscious process.
These are what I believe a player has to do to improve his or her game. I may have missed some things and will probably do a follow up article if necessary.
~E.P.B.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Posted on Monday, December 7, 2009
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YEP.
It is getting there, added a new template so far. I have to do some minor things like make a new banner, change around the HTML a wee bit. Hopefully tonight I'll have two new articles up.
