Jigsaw Pieces - Judgment Dragon

I’m going to make a pretty bold claim, though it’s one that I think few players will disagree with. Judgment Dragon is the most powerful card in the game at the moment. I believe it’s truly the only card currently legal that can be classified as ‘broken’.



Simply put, (if you’ll pardon the awful pun) JD is an absolute monster. It has a joke of a summoning condition, and with an average hand (even one Charge of the Light Brigade) it’s entirely possible for a Lightsworn player to have a ‘live’ JD at the end of turn one.

This card really needs no introduction, nor does its extremely powerful effect, but I’ll be examining just exactly why this card is so good, as well as where it’s true place on the banlist lies.

Judgment Dragon makes a mockery of the traditional concept of card advantage – consider, a skilful player can carefully exhaust his opponents options and resources over turns of excellent play, amassing several cards over their opponent, only for the Lightsworn player to topdeck a Judgment Dragon, drop it for free, and then drastically alter the state of the game for a laughable cost of 1000 lifepoints. There are very few cards in the competitive metagame capable of stopping the Dragon’s summon (Solemn Judgment, Royal Oppression etc), and if you don’t happen to have one of these then you can do little but watch your carefully set up field burn. Even if you have a Bottomless Trap Hole or Torrential Tribute to trade off with the Dragon they do nothing to repair the damage already done, turns of precision play and excellent reads are wasted, and the game is back in the Lightsworn player’s hands.

No other single card that is currently legal is as powerful or game changing as Judgment Dragon. This then raises the question of where this beast belongs on the banlist?

Many peopled will cry out that it should be banned, but this isn’t a very realistic option, as it removes the most powerful element of the Lightsworn deck, and we’d be forced to wonder what the competitive consequences of this might be, it might even remove Lightsworn from the competitive sphere completely, which I’d imagine some might celebrate, although I can’t see all those players who invested large amounts of money in their decks being pleased with this option.

It certainly cannot remain at two, as this is far too powerful for a number of reasons. Firstly, and most simply, it’s possible to win with two Judgment Dragons, simply dropping an incredible 6000 attack on the board in a turn, and most importantly with a normal summon free to finish the job and inflict a one turn kill. Secondly, can also simply drop a single Judgment Dragon, use its effect to clear any potential obstacles then follow up with the second Judgment Dragon to win the game.

It seems then in order to satisfy the most people that the logical place for Judgment Dragon is at one, this solves most of the problems with the card. This forces Lightsworn players to be far more careful with their single copy of Judgment Dragon. As it currently stands they can shrug off a Bottomless Trap Hole, causing severe damage in the process, knowing that they have one more Judgment Dragon to rely on. It’s hard to overstate just how much the lack of that single Judgment Dragon changes.

We already have an example in recent competitive memory of this to examine: Dark Armed Dragon. Its limitation reduced its power drastically, forcing players to conserve it until it could guarantee (Gorz the Emissary of Darkness notwithstanding) game.

Thanks to Beckoning Light, Lightsworn players are still able to reuse their incredible boss monster, but no longer can they exhaust their opponents entire arsenal of defences, then set Beckoning Light, allowing them to simply drop two Judgment Dragons without difficulty the following turn.

Forcing Lightsworn players to conserve and value their Judgment Dragons introduces an extra element of skill to the deck, especially in the mirror match, and would allow skilled players to play extra mind games with the opponent, feigning a Judgment Dragon where none exists, and vice-versa.

There is no question about the power of Judgment Dragon, it is by far the most powerful card currently active in the game, and of that there can be no dispute. Konami has never yet let such a powerful monster roam free in the Advanced Format untouched for long, and come March 2010 I think we’ll be seeing Judgment Dragon take the hit it deserves.

The Champions - Galileo De Obaldia

In The Champions, I'll be tracking down some of the best players in the game and putting your questions to them, gaining a valuable insight into all areas of the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG and learning along the way just what it takes to be a Champion.

The first player in the spotlight is Panama's Galileo De Obaldia, the current reigning Panamanian National Champion who graciously took the time out of his busy schedule to conduct this interview.

Galileo De Obaldia (centre)

Hey Galy, thanks for the interview. So can you give me a brief overview of your history in the game, your credentials, and how long you’ve been playing the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG?


Hi Alex. I started back in Feb 2007 with the first Battle City 1, down in London. That was my first real tournament, although I started playing online not too long before that, and my friend Mike Stenning, who taught me a lot when I was first starting, convinced me to go and check it out. I did ok, 6-2. I didn’t top but I was gripped with the game and started attending more and more tournaments

Unfortunately my credentials don’t include any SJC tops or wins as I haven't been able to play in any. I won the biggest regional in UK the year I started out (Sheffield, over 200 people), with players like JoeJoe Whitaker, Hardeep, AJ Tiplady, Paul Doherty and others in attendance, so to win something like that after a few months was quite cool. Since then I've won 5 other regionals and topped the other 4 I didn’t manage to win.

I won the Transatlantic Leap to represent the UK in SJC Indy 2008, but unfortunately I couldn't make the trip. I also travelled to Ireland in January and went on to win the Irish Winter Open 2009.

At Nationals 2008 I ran my own version of DAD Return, with Trade-Ins, Reckless Greed as well as the obvious Allures and Destiny Draws, with Cyber Valley and Machine Duplication. With a lot of power cards like Crush Card, Dimension Fusion/DMoC, and 3 DAD, the extra speed pretty much always got me my power plays early. I went undefeated over the course of the tournament, but unfortunately lost in the finals.

Nationals 2009 I chose Gladiator Beasts, heavily teched for the mirror match with 3 Book of Moon, 3 Enemy Controllers and 3 Laquari, thinking I would see a lot of the mirror match and hoping for an edge. About 60% of my matches through the tournament were mirror matches, I also played against Skill Drain based decks and Lightsworn. The event itself went really well, and I ended up going undefeated and winning out, losing only a couple of games over the whole tournament. So as the National Champion I got an all expenses paid trip to Chile for the South American Championships, the winner of which would qualify for the World Championships, so that was pretty cool.

At Chile I used Skill Drain Blackwings, which I thought would give me an edge over Lightsworn and Cat Synchro. I had been running D-Hero Skill Drain before I ran Blackwings, and it was good, but I didn’t particularly like it. I would sometimes just outright lose and I changed it to Blackwings the night before. I don't think I would run the same deck now, but it was ok.

My other options were Cat Synchro and Lightsworn. I always draw multiple Wulfs and Celestias, and never draw Charge or Recharge, so I never bother running Lightsworn outside of playtesting. Cat Synchro is what I would change my deck to if I could go back in time, as that is what I ended up running for the rest of the format.

I played 3 National Champions, as well as the eventual winner during swiss, only dropping 2 games during the whole of swiss and ended up being the only undefeated.

In the top 8, I played against the guy who ended up winning. To be honest, I took it for granted, as he wasn't that great, and I thought I was through, but unfortunately that's YGO for you. Can never take it for granted, anyone can beat anyone. God hands happen and there's nothing you can do about it. He then beat two very good players in Seba ´Gooze´ and Guido ´Zero´ in the top 4 and final, so he ended up winning. So fair play to him.

To be honest, I'm not a particular fan of that format, and wish the tournament would have been held in the previous format to that, but hopefully I'll get another shot at going to Worlds this year.


As a National Champion, what would you say it takes to successfully compete at such a high level?


Well, I saw one of your articles was about Consistency. You based that on the consistency of certain cards, but I believe that's the most important aspect of the game. Due to the nature of the game, especially in a luck format where many ways to god hand exist, anyone at any given time can win a tournament. But being consistent, across different formats, constantly topping or winning, really marks you as a good player. But the difference between good and great is very small. I would say there are many good players, but not that many great players, or ´pro´ players if you like. The differences are minute, making reads, concentrating and not making mistakes, knowing when to be aggressive and when to be conservative. These are a few things that come with experience and practice in the game.

To finish off the question, I can’t state strongly enough how important it is to keep playing at a high level. What I mean is, play with players that are better than you, asking for help. No one is perfect, everyone has room to keep improving, and the desire to do that is what is going to fuel you to become a better player and be able to compete with the best.

YVD is such an amazing tool. I no longer play online as I just don’t have the time. However when I first started out, I didn't really have anyone to play the game with so I started playing online. You learn the basics, and just the whole fundamentals of the game. The next step is finding a player or players to help you get better. I can tell you right now, without Stenning to help me out, I doubt I would have done as well as I have done.

Consistently keeping up with the game, practicing, and looking to improve is what it takes to be competitive at a high level.


You're a pretty humble guy, which seems to be quite rare. A lot of 'pros' and wannabe 'pros' have this huge ego, and come off as arrogant a lot of the time, what do you think about this?


Well, I'm not one to judge. There is nothing wrong with them being confident of how good they are. The problem is when they just go on and on about it, and belittle other people, that may even look up to them. At the end of the day, YGO is only a game. Don't get me wrong, I take it seriously, not so much right now because of my busy schedule, but still, for me, it's something competitive and something I want to excel at. However, I'm totally against those who make others feel bad about themselves or their skills.

Sometimes, it's just funny to listen to some people talk about how good they are, etc. So it’s just good-natured fun for me. I'm not one to complain about something as little as this, when there are so many more important things in life, but the belittling of others does get to me sometimes.

It should be the other way around; the better players should be helping the newer ones. That way they can do the same, and make sure the game keeps growing and not die. Individuals can't manage this alone, but everyone can do their small share to help out.

Speaking of arrogance, there was recently a dispute on American forums such as DGZ, because a French player won an SJC, then made comments about American players in a video and interview, you yourself might get a little flak from American players, considering it's 'only' Panama you're the National Champion of, how do you feel about this kind of attitude?


Well done to the French guy who won (I don't know his name), but I think it was a bit juvenile to start calling the Americans bad (I'm pretty sure that's what happened). Like I said, anyone, any time can beat any other player. Anyone who doesn't give credit to someone for his or her accomplishments is an idiot. I'm sure he got some stick for winning, and that may have caused the reaction.

I happen to have the opinion that once you get to the top, it is very balanced. The very best from North America and Canada, such as the Bellidos, Corn, etc, the same for Europe, with players such as Claudio, and South America with Chuave and Guido. These are all very good players. The best in their regions. The difference between them will not be that much at all.

As for the attitude from certain players it does not affect me, although sometimes it does bug me a little. I have performed consistently in every format, in any tournament I have entered. In Europe, Panamá or South America, and I'm flattered to be considered one of the best players by a lot of people who know me, and at the end of the day, that's what matters to me. I don't really mind what some random kid I don't know from the US, or anywhere else, who doesn't know me, really has to say. I'm sorry if that sounded harsh, but the attitude of some of those players is very childish. Ha, I guess it might bother me a little bit after all!

What are your thoughts on Lightsworn? It's one of the most controversial decks in the history of the game, especially with Konami's apparent decision to almost hand it the format in favour of selling reprints of the key cards in it. Adam Corn has gone so far to state that the deck is so unreliable he would never use it in a major event again, what do you think about this?


Well, let's start with the truth. I completely dislike Lightsworn. I´m not lying when I say I will never use it in a major tournament. It is very explosive, it has everything; speed, easy to get advantage, ways to search through the deck, and amazing support such as Judgment Dragon and Honest. But it just feels so inconsistent. When I play Lightsworn, I try to minimize dead hands, such as not maximizing on Wulfs or Celestias. But more often than not, I always draw dead or below par.

The kicker however, is it lives up to it’s nickname Sacksworn a lot! They can god hand in a way that’s it is almost impossible to come back from, which is the really frustrating thing. The good part is that it’s not always autopilot. Good players can win with average hands, which normal players won’t be able to, but this really applies to the whole of YGO.

But in order to be fair, I will point out that at least, although the deck does require luck, it’s not necessarily just an autopilot deck.

I know a lot of players love playing Lightsworn, and if you can consistently do well with it, go for it. For me however, I agree with Corn. I just don’t like relying on anything else except myself. Obviously there is luck involved in this game, but I try to minimize that as much as possible.

Like I said, it's all about consistency, something Lightsworn just does not possess.

How do you feel about the banlist right now, and would you change it at all?

I feel the ban list missed something, and that was Brain Control. I really do feel that card should not be legal. As for the rest of the list, it looks pretty balanced. I’d say do something to Lightsworn, there are a lot of key cards that could and maybe should be hurt (Judgment Dragon, Honest, Lumina, and Charge for instance) and maybe Brionac. I´m not so sure that should be at 3, with 2 being practically the same, maybe one is the perfect slot for it. But overall, Konami seem to have done a decent job with the list.

Thanks for your time, any final comments or shoutouts you want to make?

No problem Alex. Thanks for thinking of me. I'd just like to give a shout out to everyone I know! Too many to name! And hopefully I'll be doing some travelling next year, hit some European tournaments, and maybe even SJCs! Oh and of course, go and represent Panamá at worlds if possible!

Till next time, good luck and have fun!

- Alex

Jigsaw Pieces - Heavy Storm

In these Jigsaw Piece articles I’ll be looking at some of the cards on the current banlist and analysing them in depth, going beyond the obvious, and evaluating where their place on the list should be, how they fit into the intricate puzzle of the banlist and if they should be on there at all.

This weekends Jigsaw Piece is a card everyone is familiar with, and one that is often played wrongly: Heavy Storm.



Heavy Storm is a staple. Period. It is one of the most powerful cards in any players arsenal, and it is a shame, because more often than not this exceptional card is often misused in the most ridiculous ways.

It is astonishing how often this vital card is misunderstood. If you are looking for some way to gain a quick plus over you opponent in card advantage terms then Heavy Storm is by no means the card to do it with. The amount of times I've see players waste Heavy Storm on their first turn to facilitate something as trivial as a Charge of the Light Brigade (and the obvious Lumina/Garoth play that follows) is incredible, and in a deck such as Lightsworn that needs as much means of clearing obstacles for game as possible it’s a cardinal sin.

If you play your Heavy Storm too early then that drastically alters the pace and flow of the game from then on, and you effectively hand your opponent the win, depending on their draws. The logical response to a Heavy Storm (mis)play (providing you survive your opponent’s turn) is to simply set every single trap and defensive spell (Book of Moon etc) you draw from that point onwards. This turns the duel into an uphill battle for your opponent, as it should, they should be punished for such behaviour.

The only time you should ever play Heavy Storm is if you can guarantee game (backed up by Solemn Judment to forestall any Threatening Roars etc for example) or game winning advantage/setups – Storm followed by something ridiculous (Stardust Dragon/Royal Oppression/Solemn Judgment/Book of Moon comes to mind). There is a reason that Heavy Storm is at one. But is there a reason it shouldn’t be?

Famously, in the days leading to the announcement of the current banlist Kevin Tewart said this on Pojo:

“There's nothing "mindless" about playing your cards on the field. The only thing that makes it "mindless" is the existence of Heavy Storm. This 1 card has dictated how the entire game is played for 7 years. Can anybody else come up with a better definition of "broken card"?

Just because I think Heavy Storm is a broken card doesn't mean it's being Forbidden yet.”

Aside from the mistake in reasoning that the idea that something has dictated the game for so long is actually bad (as it doesn't account for the idea that Heavy Storm has influenced the game in a good/healthy manner) his comments cause my mind to boggle at how out of touch this man is with the game, and I am filled with despair at the thought that he actually exerts some influence over the game, as senior research and development manager for Konami.

Heavy Storm is a necessary evil. It preserves one of the few truly skilful aspects of the game. Consider, lets say hypothetically that Storm is banned, the logical course of action now becomes to simply set every card you draw without fear, much as you do now once your opponent’s Storm is played. There’s no risk, and ultimately no reward. The only real downside to its existence is the silly excuse that it 'causes one turn kills'. Considering cards like Giant Trunade and Cold Wave 'cause OTKs' in the same manner of Heavy Storm, without the tremendous benefit of the skill factor Heavy Storm maintains this is a pretty weak claim.

The mere existence of Heavy Storm forces players to be careful with their backrows, to perform a thoughtful, considered, dance of balance; if they set too many and over extend then a potential Heavy Storm could ruin them, if they set too little then their lack of defence may lose them the game. Elegant plays such as bluffing and baiting your opponent into destroying non-essential face down cards so that your important ones are free from destruction no longer apply.

Canadian legend Matt Peddle wrote a pretty decent beginner introduction to the intricacies being discussed here over at Konami’s Yu-Gi-Oh! Strategy Site and it’s worth a look: http://www.konami.com/yugioh/articles/?p=1046.

Heavy Storm is most certainly deserving of it’s current placed on the banlist, and it’s a rare (or perhaps entirely coincidental) example of wisdom on Konami’s part. To move it anywhere else would either be madness or chaos.

Future Visions - Starlight Road

Ever since the limitation of Solemn Judgment control players have been aching for more reliable forms of universal negation, some trying to fill the spots with sub par cards like Dark Bribe or Magic Drain, none having quite the utility or power of Solemn Judgment.

Enter Starlight Road. This card is being released over in Japan through the Yusei Duel Disk, and if it ever hits the TCG it’s going to have a MASSIVE impact, forcing us to re-evaluate how we play almost single-handedly.



“Activate only when an effect was activated that destroys 2 or more cards you control. Negate that effect and destroy that card. Then, you can Special Summon 1 "Stardust Dragon" from your Extra Deck.”

Take a minute to digest that. All those wonderful, game ending cards that destroy multiple cards like Judgment Dragon, Heavy Storm, Torrential Tribute, Mirror Force, Icarus Attack, Black Rose Dragon, Lightning Vortex, Celestia, Lightsworn Angel and Gladiator Beast Gyzarus and more all rendered useless by this amazing card.

Starlight Road would be an ample replacement for those missing two Solemns without its second effect, but it becomes ridiculously powerful when you take that second effect into account.

Consider, you’re playing against Lightsworn, and they drop Judgment Dragon. Before the advent of Starlight Road, the only situation where you won’t lose an incredible amount of advantage (if not the game itself outright) was if you either Solemn Judgment/Royal Oppression or Stardust Dragon and protection. All of these setups are rather rare and difficult to achieve, and this doesn’t even factor in any additional cards on the part of the LS player.

Starlight Road changes this drastically. If you activate Solemn here you pay a hefty price, and open yourself up to defeat anyway, depending on your opponent’s additional resources. Oppression is too easily countered once revealed, as is Stardust Dragon. Starlight Road effortlessly dispatches the Dragon, while quickly altering the pace of the game in your favour, as Stardust makes a poor defensive wall, but a free 2500 ATK point monster that forestalls all defensive destruction is not something to be underestimated.

Starlight Road also has incredible offensive applications as well. You place several monsters on the field, attempting to push for game, your opponent grins and triumphantly flips Mirror Force. You then proceed to wipe that grin from their face with Starlight Road and cement your victory with an additional 2500 attack points.

This is incredible, and what really makes the card is how ridiculously versatile it is. You can easily afford to set it on your turn in anticipation of defeating a Mirror Force or Torrential tribute on the following turn, secure in the knowledge that if your opponent forces its activation early that’s not a particularly bad scenario for you either.

It’s very hard to overstate the implications that this card has for the competitive metagame. Card like Breaker the Magical Warrior, Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress and Mystical Space Typhoon, Gladiator Beast Bestiari Mist Wurm and Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier (if that’s possible) become more important and powerful than ever before. It’s hard to fathom the depth of impact this card has on the game, there are so many cards it forces us to play differently.

Keep your eyes out for Starlight Road. There is currently no release date for the TCG, and given Konami release schedules it’s unlikely to see competitive play for a long time, but don’t forget about it, because if it ever does hit the TCG it’ll tear it apart completely, changing the game forever.

Till next time, good luck and have fun!

- Alex

The Workshop - Zombies

The Workshop is where I’ll be discussing the major decks of the metagame, and since it’s the most recent entry into the competitive sphere, where better to start than the Zombie deck that’s been wreaking global havoc?

The deck is heavily favoured by such ‘pro’ players as Adam Corn, Ceser Gonzalez, the Bellido brothers, and even Europe’s own Claudio Kirchmair, and with Zombies taking seven out of the top sixteen places at Shonen Jump Columbus, the very first time they were played this format, it’s not hard to see why.

The deck was so successful because of one card, the card that changed everything this format:



While Blackwings were previously regarded as the premier synchro generating deck, Zombies proved to be the deck that could abuse Brionac to the fullest, allowing for incredible success (despite the overall victory going to Vincent Ralambomiadana’s ‘French Twilight’) at it’s premier Jump.

Brionac revolutionised how the game is played this format, strengthening some decks, weakening some others, and rendering some strategies completely obsolete. If Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind put Stardust Dragon in the ground, then Brionac is the final nail in the proverbial coffin. It’s no longer safe to turtle up behind a Stardust Dragon/Mirror Force setup, or hope to control the battle phase through Colossal Fighter alone, so it stands to reason that the deck most able to make use of this fantastic new card would be the most successful. Enter Zombies.

The most popular variant seems to be based around the build that took Jeff Jones to a top 16 finish, surprising (and dominating) people with Deep Sea Diva:



Monsters: 18
2x Mezuki
2x Mystic Tomato
2x Pyramid Turtle
2x Goblin Zombie
2x Deep Sea Diva
1x Dark Armed Dragon
1x Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
1x Caius the Shadow Monarch
1x Zombie Master
1x Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind
1x Sangan
1x Plaguespreader Zombie
1x Spirit Reaper



Spells: 16
3x Burial from a Different Dimension
2x Gold Sarcophagus
2x Allure of Darkness
2x Foolish Burial
2x My Body as a Shield
1x Book of Moon
1x Brain Control
1x Mind Control
1x Heavy Storm
1x Mystical Space Typhoon



Traps: 7
2x Bottomless Trap Hole
1x Solemn Judgment
1x Mirror Force
1x Torrential Tribute
1x Call of the Haunted
1x Dust Tornado

Total: 41

I’m going to be upfront and I say I don’t like this build, in comparison to a more control based, slower paced version resembling what took Lazaro Bellido to a similar top sixteen finish. This deck has far too much a preoccupation with a one turn kill victory, which the deck is fully capable of performing without such potentially crippling cards as Foolish Burial and Mind Control; along with the third Burial from a Different Dimension this has the disastrous potential to give some awful, mismatched, nigh unplayable hands. Obviously Jeff (as a previous Shonen Jump Champion) is an excellent player, so I doubt it really mattered.

Now, that said, the deck is monstrous. But this applies to all Zombie decks across the board, as the deck is capable of generating ridiculous advantage and performing one turn kills at a frighteningly consistent rate.

To perform a one turn kill with this deck (or any Zombie variant) requires so few cards that it’s very easy to set up, with Goblin Zombie, Deep Sea Diva/Emergency Teleport and Burial from a Different Dimension it’s possible to put well over 8000 attack points on the field. This influenced the decision for both Jeff and Lazaro to run a single Dust Tornado to allow one turn kill frequency, in addition to Lazaro maining a single Phoenix Wing Wind Blast.

The main combo of the deck then, is to use Pyramid Turtle/Mystic Tomato to tutor in a Goblin Zombie, then use Deep Sea Diva/Emergency Teleport to synchro for Brionac, activating Goblin Zombie’s effect to search for Mezuki, using Brionac’s effect to clear any obstacles (discarding Mezuki/Plaguespreader Zombie) along the way. Throw in a Burial from a Different Dimension or a Dark Armed Dragon, and you’ve got a massive swing of tempo, pace, position and power, if not a straight up one turn kill.

Lazaro had some more interesting deck choices, specifically Tragoedia, an excellent choice. Tragoedia is so good here for a number of reasons – it allows you to survive in the face of opposing one turn kills, it can swing the game in your favour through it’s ‘Snatch Steal’ effect, it provides free tribute fodder/synchro material, and can place a huge amount of attack points on board, which can be vital, this allows you to inflict heavy amounts of damage without ever even needing to summon Brionac

This deck is very, very good. Adam Corn has gone so far as to proclaim it the best deck of the format, and with the power and consistency, and the sheer swarming it’s capable of, I’d be inclined to agree.

Some good videos from 'the pros' regarding Zombies:

Adam Corn on the top decks and the format:



Cesar Gonzalez's Top 8 Regional Zombie Deck:



Dale Bellido on the Krebons/Diva debate:



Cesar Gonzalez on the top decks this format:



Also, check out this weeks featured video from Dale Bellido on his brother's Zombie deck from a recent Toronto Regional.

Till next time, good luck and have fun!

- Alex

Blog Updates

As you might have noticed Ender's Game has undergone something of a facelift, although this isn't completely finished so you'll have to bear with me.

New features include links to various Yu-Gi-Oh! forums, subscription by e-mail and a weekly rotated featured video (this weeks is Dale Bellido's explanation of his brother's deck at a recent Toronto regional).

An article examining the popular new Zombie deck that's recently arisen will be up later tonight.

- Alex

Future Visions - Elemental Hero Absolute Zero

Future Visions is a regular segment in which I’ll be talking about upcoming releases in the TCG and how they’ll impact upon the competitive metagame.

The first card I’ll be looking at is Elemental Hero Absolute Zero, from the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Manga Volume 4. Absolute Zero is due to hit our shores on the 5th of January 2010, just in time for Shonen Jump LA.



Firstly, you might be surprised I’m covering an Elemental Hero right? Outside of Prisma and Stratos there’s very little worth to be had in Elemental Hero decks/cards if you intend to compete at a high level. Absolute Zero changes all that.

"1 "Elemental Hero", "Destiny Hero" or "Evil Hero" monster + 1 WATER monster
This monster cannot be Special Summoned except by Fusion Summon. This card gains 500 ATK for each WATER monster on the field other than "Elemental Hero Absolute Zero". When this card is removed from the field, destroy all monsters your opponent controls."

Absolute Zero is nothing short of amazing, and here’s why: it’s extremely difficult for your opponent to get rid of without losing significant advantage. The only scenarios in which your opponent can easily dispose of Absolute Zero is in rare cases where they happen to have something like Smashing Ground, while they have no monsters on the field. The recently popular Lightning Vortex is of no use here, as even if you have no monsters on the field - and given Absolute Zero’s substantial 2500 body it’s unlikely you won’t defend yourself – you’re still giving up two cards just to get rid of one, playing exactly into your opponent’s hands.

Another reason why Absolute Zero is so good is because it’s ridiculously easy to summon. The staple combo of the Tele-DAD deck involved Destiny Hero – Malicious + Emergency Teleport, allowing you to synchro into huge monsters for practically free (thanks to Destiny Draw) all the while setting you up for the game ending Dark Armed Dragon. Absolute Zero operates under a similar premise, and can use much of the very same engine. The popular choice in Japan (and France, as it was released prematurely over there) is Deep Sea Diva.

Simply use Destiny Draw (or Dark Grepher) to place Malicious into the graveyard, normal summon Diva, synchro for a level 8, and your graveyard is immediately set up to summon Absolute Zero through Miracle Fusion. This is not to be underestimated, as Malicious can be quickly and easily accessed through Mystic Tomato, Sangan and of course Stratos, while Diva can also be fetched quickly thanks to the incredible draw power and searching engine the deck possesses.

This can allow for ridiculous one turn kill potential – consider, if you summon Diva, synchro with Malicious for Colossal Fighter, then summon Absolute Zero, without any prior setup you’ve just dropped 5400 damage on the field. Think about that for a minute. If you’ve a Mind Control/Brain Control/monster summoned the previous turn on the board to synch with the other Diva to boot. you’ve got a very viable OTK, that, thanks to a large amount of draw power, searching and minimal cards involved is frighteningly consistent.

Another popular choice is Treeborn Frog, which is slightly more useful with Future Fusion, allowing you to possibly incorporate Caius the Shadow Monarch into more control based builds. What’s great about this is, even if your opponent destroys your Future Fusion you’ve immediately set up your graveyard for both a future synchro (Malicious) or a tribute summon (Frog), in addition to fuelling your grave for a possible in hand Miracle Fusion, allowing for some VERY crafty plays.

Absolute Zero has the potential to be game changing, and make no mistake it WILL be run in large numbers. Start thinking now about how you’ll deal with it, or you could be in for a very nasty surprise come January. As it gets closer to release I’ll be discussing potential decks featuring this amazing card. Be sure to pick up at least one of these bad boys.

Till next time, good luck and have fun!

- Alex

Consistency is Key Part 1

Consistency. It’s a word bandied around a lot these days, and it happens to be one of the most underrated and misunderstood concepts of the game; a shame really, as it happens to be one of the most important ones. My first series of articles will be on a thorough analysis of consistency and how it applies to the game of Yu-Gi-Oh!, beginning with deck construction.

What consistency means is pretty simple – something that performs on a regular basis at the same level, it’s a measurement of reliability. For the purposes of competitive play we’ll take that level of consistency and reliability as a continuously high standard.

Many players are dazzled and fascinated by amazing combos, and seemingly ridiculously powerful cards - the newly released and legal Obelisk the Tormentor for instance. They then go on to try and create decks around these combos and cards, often with disastrous results. Consistency (or a lack thereof) is the problem here.



Looks powerful right? Sure, it could be game changing, even game winning, if you ever managed to summon it. However, it’s pretty much impossible to guarantee that you’ll constantly be able to place the right amount of monsters on the board to ensure you can consistently make use of Obelisk. Another consistency issue arises when you’ve finally managed to summon the mighty monster, and you run into something as common as Mirror Force or Smashing Ground.

This is why it isn’t a particularly good idea to base a deck around Obelisk and cards like it (the most laughable example would be the hilariously bad ‘Sphinx’ cards used to promote the Yu-Gi-Oh! Movie). It’s just not worth the effort to summon, especially considering the instances where it’ll be successfully summoned and actually make an impact on the game are so rare they’re almost non-existent.

This is inconsistency at it’s finest – this is exactly what we want to avoid for competitive play. To prosper in a 7+ round tournament your deck needs to be filled to the brim (and be based around) cards that you can constantly rely on to achieve victory, the exact opposite of our old pal Obelisk up there.

So we’ve looked at one example of how to avoid consistency let’s look at a few ways we can actually increase and create it.

There are (among others) three main ways to increase consistency within a deck, without actually looking at the decktype itself (adding Lightsworn monsters to a Zombie deck would do nothing but worsen it).



The first of these are so called ‘recruiter monsters’. Basically these are monsters that bring other monsters to the field, acting as a ‘toolbox’, allowing you to tailor your needs to the situation at hand. These monsters are vital to some strategies and can radically change the pace and state of the game, depending on what you choose to search. They can set you up for tributes or synchros, or even allow you to survive one more turn so you can strike back with your own combos.

The most recent example of a tier 1 deck using these monsters is the popular Zombie deck that has arisen in the wake of Shonen Jump Columbus. I’ll be covering this deck in a later article.



The second of these are ‘searcher cards. These can come in a variety of shapes and forms, the most popular being Reinforcement of the Army, Black Whirlwind, Sangan, and Charge of the Light Brigade.

These fulfil a similar function as recruiters, but often at a much quicker pace, and in some cases setting up your field and combos all at the same time. Reinforcement of the Army was one of the most important cards in the Tele-DAD deck because it allowed you access to the crucial Elemental Hero Stratos on turn 1, which dictated the pace of the entire game from then on.

Take the popular Charge of the Light Brigade – widely regarded as the cornerstone of the Lightsworn deck.

Charge is often misunderstood as a ‘mere’ searcher, but it’s actually much more powerful than that, due to its subtle cost. The milling of three cards to the graveyard, the very mechanic around which the entire LS deck revolves can be absolutely gamebreaking depending on what gets sent there. Consider; your opponent activates Charge and mills Necro Gardna, Wulf and Shiny Black C. You soon realise this is not a game you are likely to win.

Of course, it’s highly unlikely for this to occur on a regularly basis, but if Charge hits even one of the above cards it’s huge for the LS player and sets them up massively.



The final of these three methods are draw cards. These increase consistency by allowing the user to ‘see’ more of their deck at a much quicker pace than usual. This gives them access to their more powerful cards sooner than their opponent, allowing for quicker, easier wins.

The best example of this is Jae Kim’s ‘Oppression-DAD’ variant of Tele-DAD, that surfaced around January 2009 during the dominant Tele-DAD era. That deck used three copies of Allure of Darkness and Destiny Draw, allowing for a blinding speed that has yet, almost a year later been unmatched. Combined with three copies of the aforementioned Reinforcement of the Army, Elemental Hero Stratos, Sangan, and a Mystic Tomato, this granted the deck consistency on a level that had never been seen before, and still has yet to be seen since, allowing it to crush almost all competition.

As I said, these are just a few of the ways you can increase consistency within your deck, but you should examine each individual card you use when deckbuilding. Just ask yourself this whenever you consider a card - how often is this card going to be useful, and when it is useful, how much of an impact will it have?

I hope you enjoyed my first article, and the first in this current series. Till next time, good luck and have fun!

- Alex.

Introduction

Welcome to Ender's Game!

My name is Alex Hayes, I'm a 20 year old university student from the Emerald Isle of Ireland, and I'll be bringing you a variety of articles about the Yu-Gi-Oh Trading Card Game, drawing from a variety of sources, even classical literature and philosophy.

I'm called Ender on DuelistGroundz (hence the title), Alex on Feckinyugioh and Ukaypro, and Antaeus on Pojo (any resemblance to the featured writer is purely conincidental).

My credentials in the game include:

3rd Irish Nationals 2009
4th 'Irish Winter Open 2009'
37th European Championship 2009
Numerous Regional/Local Qualifier Wins/Top 8s.

I'll be updating this blog on an almost daily basis, so stay tuned.

Until next time, good luck and have fun!

- Alex.