Showing posts with label xyz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label xyz. Show all posts

Friday, October 28, 2011

Deck Profile: Infernities


The Wild West Deck of Yugioh
Infernities are an archetype consisting of All Dark attribute monsters with mostly fiends. It prioritizes on filing its graveyard with Infernity monsters and emptying out the user's hand. This Article will explain the many strategies and techs they may utilize. Warning; Infernities are more complicated than Gravekeepers so this article will be substantially longer than My Last Deck Profile.

The Main Players
Infernities generally stick to Infernity Archfiend, Infernity Necromancer, Infernity Mirage, Infernity Beetle and Infernity Avenger. All of which are effect monsters which require an empty hand to activate. Archfiend and Necromancer hold the most important effects for getting the gears in motion.

I've seen plenty of builds running Infernity Randomizer because of it's draw effect but I personally don't think of it to be as effective as the the other five.

With Infernity Archfiend there are several advantages and disadvantages. Archfiend's effect can target any infernity monster/spell/trap. This makes it part of the consistency engine within Infernities. What it also does is open its user up for misplays if they lack the ability to properly understand the deck. While you may gain a card from special summoning it, it will place a handicap on the rest of your Infernities if you search a card you can't remove from your hand. The common play is search out an infernity monster if you haven't normal summoned yet, or to fetch Infernity Barrier/Infernity Launcher.

Infernity Mirage is the next item of this deck. Its abilities are somewhat a combination of Infernity Beetle and Necromancer. Tributing this card to summon 2 Infernities from the grave is a powerful effect that is essentially a floating Infernity launcher. What balances this card is the fact that it can't be special summoned from the grave, but there are a number of ways around this. Using Monster reincarnation is an amazing tech to emptying the hand along with getting mirage back or Hundred-Eyes Dragon, but I'll elaborate more on Hundred-Eyes Dragon after I've explained the rest of the Infernities.

Infernity Necromancer is the card that abuses the grave the most in Infernities. Its purpose is to simply special summon any Infernity that isn't itself while the users hand is empty. This effect can allow you to synchro with Beetle/Avenger, search with Archfiend, or simply create more field presence. Necromancer's stumble ability makes it a lot safer to normal summon it, with an attack of 0 and no more, being automatically swapped to defence mode is an effect that only banes Infernity Barrier but it makes up for it by special summoning a new monster in attack mode if desired. There are obvious disadvantages to this card though, such as not having a grave. This applies to Infernity Mirage as well.

There isn't much to say about Infernity Beetle. A Good card that can duplicate itself to thin out the deck and also fill up the grave. It's a tuner that makes things happen really. Even if there are no materials to synchro with, there is always the choice of overlaying into Gachi Gachi Gantetsu. The only disadvantage to beetle is opening/drawing multiples. Which can be made up for with Infernity Inferno or Infernity Launcher.

Hundred-Eyes Dragon is just a neat card that any Infernity build should run. Like many Infernity effects, it requires a decent grave. Its ability is to banish any Dark Monster under level 6 and imitate its effects. This means Dark Grepher can also be targeted along with any of the five Infernities previously discussed. Hundred-Eyes Dragon is essentially one of the most flexible cards Infernities can use and with 3000 Attack, why not?



The Support
Infernities rely on using Spells and Traps just about as much as Gladiator Beasts do. See the perks of Backrow is that you can set up to five, where as you can only play 1 Infernity Monster from your hand generally. It is the simple solution to a clogged hand.

Allure of Darkness is a fantastic tech in Infernities, not just because they're mostly Dark monsters, but because It will also remove a monster to prevent clogged hands. The disadvantage of this is that you will lose an Infernity, but the advantage generally outweighs the cost and may even gain from the cost.

Call of the Haunted and Monster reborn are obvious additions to this deck as they special summon from the grave or just loiter on the field for reduced hand presence.

Infernity Barrier is literally the best protection Infernities have, making it worthy of its name. What I can not stress more about this card is the fact that you absolutely have to be playing the deck properly in order to use it. It is not as flexible as solemn judgment, but it does cover all activation types.

Infernity Inferno = Hand Eater, Grave Filler. Absolutely necessary in Infernities. Toss out the cards you don't like and thin out your deck while you're at it. Completely Chain-able and a part of the Infernity Consistency Engine. This also explains Foolish burial being used to further thin the deck and create more targets for various Infernity effects or revival cards.

Infernity Break is yet another trap card used by Infernities that once again relies on grave presence and being empty-handed. The good thing about it is that you can select any Infernity card to activate the effect. This means you can use an old Infernity barrier instead of your monsters.

Dark Grepher is a floating Infernity Inferno, making it useful for emptying your hand and adding to the grave but a flaw that mustn't be overlooked is that grepher has little use if you hold no monsters. What makes it a risky card but also apart of the Infernity Consistency Engine is that it helps you start off but can hurt the deck if you draw it alone.

One for One is simply a tech that infernities could use considering they use avenger and mirage. If the targets for one for one were no longer in the deck, it could still be set to avoid hand cluttering.

Maxx "c" and Effect Veiler. These two cards are not exactly popular in Infernities, considering they are hand activated cards but something to consider is that maxx "c" can be sent to graveyard whenever the user wishes, while Effect Veiler only needs an opponents monster on their field during their turn. On paper it sounds situational but what are the odds of your opponent not having an effect monster out on their turn?

Next up is Infernity Launcher. This card is limited to 1 and with good reason really. It's purpose is to empty your Infernity monsters into the grave or bring back monsters you've sent to the grave. This pretty much is where your opponent feels like scooping, especially if you have a healthy Infernity grave with Necromancer and Archfiend. While a limited to 1 card doesn't seem to be all that worth it, it is searchable by Archfiend making it easier to get and easier to win.

Pretty Much Covered Eveything but some of the Side-deck so I'll just get to that now.
Debunk is sided in because sometimes you may come up against cards that rely too much on the grave to use their effects but while Infernities use the grave as their 'second hand', only Mirage and Beetle's effects resolve in the grave (Avenger's activates in there too i guess). Debunk is the answer to a lot of monsters like Grapha, Discard Search Monsters like Hecatrice, Elemental Hero Captain Gold, and what would bother Infernities the most; Effect Veiler and Maxx "C".

Snipe Hunter is side-decked incase the deck comes across monsters that can't be destroyed by battle and the like. It's an easy to piece together tech as snipe hunter can discard an unlimited number of cards. Snipe Hunter can also be replaced by Fabled Raven if you desire as Raven can also empty a hand of monsters if need be.

Lastly, Mind Crush. I personally don't like main-decking mind crush, but Infernities are one of the few archetypes that can profit substantially off this card. Simply put, Mind crush can empty a hand but it can also be set back by the fact that you can't activate this without a hand.

All of my praise if you're still reading this attentively. Thanks for reading, Until next time.

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Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Rescue Rabbit Part II: The Deck Options

Continued from Part I

Rescue Rabbit grabs ANY Normal Monster (under Level 4), and this leads to a lot of options when building a Rabbit Deck.

Possible Rabbit Variant Choices
There are several archetypes that can jam in 2-3 Rabbit with their (previously useless) Normal Monsters. While there are many archetypes that can use these Normies, I will go into detail with the ones that I personally see potential in.

Rabbit Glads
The concept of Rabbit Glads is using Rabbit to get Gladiator Beast Andal and then contact fusing into either Essedarii, Gyzarus or Heraklinos (Depending on what options you have). This deck is highly explosive, and plays much like Prisma Glads, only with more contact fusion and overall more destructive output.
Rabbit Glads have several advantages over other Rabbit Builds. Firstly, the Normal Monsters you run recycle themselves through contact fusion, so you only need to run 3 of them. Secondly, Test Tiger can turn your dead normal cards into live Gladiators like Bestiari, Equeste or Laquari.
 An example of a destructive Rabbit play could be, Summoning Rabbit for 2 Andal, SSing Test Tiger to return one Andal for Bestiari then Contacting into Gyzarus.

Gem-Rabbit
Gem-Knights need to use Normal Monsters for several of their fusions, like Ruby, Aquamarine, and Topaz. This deck uses Rabbit as a bridge between the deck and the field for these Normal Monsters. If there is one thing I have learned from playing Rabbit Decks, it's that having Normies in your hand is bad. While Gem-Knights can ditch these Normies better than most variants with Gem-Knight Fusion, having them on the field allows you to go for larger plays that can incorporate Xyz Monsters like Daigusto Emeral to go plus.
Rabbit in Gem-Knights can lead to great plays with Super Polymerization. You can fuse their Thunder King Rai-Oh with one of your Normies to make Prism Aura, or fuse one of your Gem-Knights with their Leviair to make Amethys.
Gem-Rabbit has great synergy with the Xyz monsters Daigusto Emeral and Lavalval Chain. With Lavalval Chain you can mill Gem Fusion and then add it to your hand if you need to, and with Emeral you can summon a normal monster for fusion or do half a Pot of Avarice.
Gem-Knight Obsidian is also great for going plus and doing a big OTK, as you can swarm the field with fusions and Normies. Obsidian can basically turn 2 Normies and a Gem Knight Fusion into a Rank 4 Xyz and a fusion, rather than just a fusion.

SalvoRabbit
The problem Salvo Decks have had for a while is that they lacked a good Level 4 Dark Machine Type for Black Salvo, and had to rely on Dekoichi. Rabbit fixes this problem pretty effectively by bringing Mechanicalchaser and Blocker into play. Salvo Rabbit also has access to the extremely aggressive card, Limiter Removal. An OTK with Limiter Removal and 2 Chasers is very powerful and easy to pump out. Salvo-Rabbit also has access to Allure of Darkness, which I referenced in a previous article and will reference again in the next article. I cannot stress how great Allure is for rabbit, especially with most Rabbit decks spamming Leviair.

Verz Rabbit
Verz is still in the works as not all of the cards for the archetype are shown yet, but I already see how powerful this deck can be. Verz Bahamut is, in my opinion, the best aggressive Level 4 Xyz. It can steal their boss monster and then make a large push. Verz Heliolope is also great because it pushes right over 1900 attack beaters, like Rai-Oh which can negate Bahamut while it is out. Corrosive Contagion Infestation is an excellent way of recycling your Helio back into deck, letting you safely run only 3 Normal Monsters. Again, we gain access to Allure of Darkness, helping this deck's consistency a lot. Also Olanta and Kaitos work like Smashing Ground and Mystical Space Typhoon, while being searchable with Infestation. Mandrago is another way of getting out Bahamut without having to use Rabbit.
 
Hero Rabbit
"Heroes are basically Gem-Knight's cooler older brother" - VeryUnoriginal
Hero Rabbit plays very similar to Gem-Knight Rabbit, but has access to a few other goodies. The deck still pulls off those Super Poly plays thanks to the Omni Heroes, but it also gets Miracle Fusion. The main tossup between Gem-Knights and Heroes is the choice between Gem-Knight Fusion and Miracle fusion. While Gem-Knight fusion can ditch Normals from hand, and recycle itself perpetually, Miracle Fusion is still the better card in my opinion. Not only are the Hero Fusions better than Gem-Knight Fusions, topdecking Miracle Fusion can seal your win, or turn a duel in your favor.


These are the most relevant Rabbit decks in my opinion, but I left out Pure Rabbit Dinosaur. With the next article I will go into Pure Rabbit Dinosaur and the Extra Deck Toolbox.
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Deck Profile: Gravekeepers

These guys were at the top of the T1 List back before September Format hit and they haven't changed much. The fact is, MST at 3 isn't really that big a deal, and neither is Heavy storm. Sure it changes a few things but any good deck won't get phased by 2 cards.
Now then, on with the deck.

Problems they face
From my experience this format, Gravekeepers' greatest weakness are boss monsters. Boss monsters are pretty much ran in every deck and without Royal Oppression Gks are finding it more difficult to stop them. The most common one in this format is the Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning (BLS), but that's the great part about GK's; they stop cards like BLS from even hitting the field with Necrovalley. Should any other monsters hit the field with above 2500 attack there are several strategies to counter it.




How to get over Boss Monsters
GK Descendant's pop effect, which basically can only be used on a boss monster if you already had field advantage. BW Gale's amazing permanent half effect which can pay off against Shi En and Stardust, but considering Gale is limited then there is the obvious problem of barely having it when you need it. Another Effective yet not always possible method to take the field back is Synchro Summoning Arcanite Magician and using its effect ONE counter at a time.

Now that that's been covered to an extent, next subject.

Consistency
Probably the most important aspect of a deck. Whether or not it can keep up its power constant and not relying on sacky tactics is what makes a deck good. There are several consistency engines in this deck that are easily visible; GK Recruiter, Allure of Darkness, Pot of Duality, Wonder Wand.
Wonder Wand is a great card because it basically trades in 2 of your cards for 2 more and also doubles as a +500Attack equip card. A great combination I use on occasion to usually is the Recruiter Wand combo. It's essentially a +1 from using Recruiters ability to search out another GK but also getting 2 new cards from Wonder Wand. When I say +1, please refer to this article for Shane's input on the concept of plus and minus. Next up are the Pot of Dualities. These cards should basically be staples in any deck that isn't special summon heavy. With these GKs, the only special summoning they're capable of is using the two tuners and Spy. The latter usually occurring on their turn leaving the dualities less limited.

The Sacky Sector
Sacky signifies reliance on luck. In this deck there are a few sacky cards. the ones to name are basically the tuners and breaker which are all at 1, that contributes to the deck's inconsistency. It is a problem but these cards are difficult to become dead draws.
Starlight on the other hand, (nicknamed Sacklight Road by the team) is often really activated due to luck. The usage of the field spell however basically makes it guaranteed heavy storm protection, also most people overlook that starlight road has the potential to easily gain extra advantage when ramming into mirror force, or when the occasional dark hole is dropped although both scenarios require advantage in the first place so it's pretty sacky anyway.
Royal Tribute is pretty much the sackiest but most powerful card Gravekeepers have at their disposal excluding Necrovalley. It essentially is a punch in the dark that hopefully hits them right in the crotch but it comes with a heavy risk and shouldn't be used first turn unless you're not going to minus again (In my earlier GK days i dropped it on vu's gladiator beasts and went minus 3). So anyway, don't try to gamble royal tribute if you're risking your hand as well. Nowadays i usually set my stuff before hand.

Time for the concluding piece

Necrovalley
This is the greatest field spell to ever hit the meta. All kinds of shit gets ruined by this card. Let's just list some of them for funsies; BLS, Spore, Monster Reborn, Avarice, Agents, Hero Beat, Blackwings, Coth, Junk Doppel.
What Necrovalley does is it keeps everything that is in the grave inside the grave hence gravekeeper. It also gives a 500 Attack/Defense boost which is one of the highest field spell stat bonuses in the game.
What I like most about Necrovalley is that any knowledgeable player can understand it doesn't force a complete lockdown but it limits the potential moves your opponent can make thus allowing you to anticipate more of their strategies or plays and find countering them a shit load easier.
It also gives them something to direct their backrow hate towards which adds to the ease of predicting their initial strategies.

Well I hope this read helped you understand Gravekeepers better whether it was studying up to perform better against them or to improve your own build.
Happy Dueling guys.

- Felix





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Monday, October 10, 2011

Rescue Rabbit Part I: The Analysis

Rescue Rabbit
4 Star Beast/Effect
300/100
This card cannot be Special Summoned from the Deck. You can banish this face-up card you control; Special Summon 2 Level 4 or lower Normal Monsters with the same name from your Deck. Destroy them during the End Phase. The effect of "Rescue Rabbit" can only be activated once per turn.
At first glance, Rescue Rabbit seems like an overpowered card that will break the format upon it's official release, but once you closely examine Rescue Rabbit you realize that it has arguably as many cons as it does pros.

The Pros
Firstly, the card seems format breaking because it can basically make any Rank 4 Xyz Monster, Mainly Evolzar Laggia or Verz Bahamut for their back-breaking effects. Secondly, this card can be used with cards that resummon advanced monsters to pump out one Rank 4 Xyz Monster a turn, Leviair the Sea Dragon is the most abusable of these because of Tour Guide from the Underworld's ability to pop out a quick Rank 3 Overlay. Thanks to cards like Leviair, it is extremely easy to access your Extra Deck Toolbox.
When I say Extra Deck Toolbox I refer to the many different options Rescue Rabbit and Tour Guide open in your Extra Deck. For example, if your opponent has a Banished Glow-Up Bulb, you can summon Tour Guide, go into Leviair and grab their Bulb for an easy Synchro Summon. Alternatively, if your opponent has a monster that needs to be handled like Chaos Sorcerer or Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En, you can go into Number 17: Leviathan Dragon or even Number 30: Acid Golem of Destruction to get over their monster. What you Xyz Summon with Rescue Rabbit is situational. For example, if you have many defensive traps to protect your plays, you can go into Lavalval Chain and set up for a Trishula play next turn (I will explain this play at the end of the article.)
Overall, Rescue Rabbit with Tour Guide gives you a massive toolbox in your Extra Deck that can pump out a unique blend of devastating plays. However, it is still not a perfect engine.


The Cons
While Rescue Rabbit has a massive toolbox, it has it's share of drawbacks. The largest of these drawbacks is that Rescue Rabbit requires roughly six Normal Monsters to be functional. A deck purely based on Rescue Rabbit will usually run 3 Kabazauls and 3 Sabersaurus, to pump out Evolzar Laggia. Normal Monsters are essentially dead draws, and if you get multiples of them your chances of winning are lower than being turn 1 Trap Dustshooted. Some remedies that people have been trying out are Moray of Greed for Kabazauls or Allure of Darkness for Verz monsters. While Allure of Darkness is an excellent card to remedy this problem, Moray of Greed itself is very often a dead card itself.
Now, you may be thinking that Agents run an even worse Normal Monster (Mystical Shine Ball), yet that deck is one of the best in the format. This may be true, but you must consider two things that are important to this drawback. Firstly, Venus can Special Summon Shine Balls from your hand, where Rescue Rabbit cannot Summon Normals from your hand, keeping them dead. Secondly, Agents are a much more destructive deck than Rabbit, making this downside less of a problem. Rabbit Decks play more like a Desruptive Beatdown deck, and this type of deck feels the weight of those dead cards that much more than an outright Agressive Beatdown deck.

Overall, I personally believe the Pros do outway the Cons, making the deck very much worth playing. In Part II, I will go into more detail regarding the many types of decks that can use Rescue Rabbit effectively, as well as many of my suggested cards for Rabbit Decks.


Here is a simple combo that uses the Rabbit and Tour Guide Toolbox, I referenced it earlier in the post.

Two Turn Lavalval Chain Trishula
T1: Play Rescue Rabbit, go into Lavalval Chain. Detach one material from Chain and topdeck Tour Guide for next turn.
T2: Summon Tour Guide, go into Leviair. Detach one material from Leviair to Special Summon Rabbit back. Special Summon 2 Level 4 Normal Monsters with Rabbit. Detach Second Material from Chain, Mill Glow-Up Bulb. Special Summon Bulb, Synchro with both Normal Monsters and Bulb into Trishula.
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