1-2-3-Pescao! (Mausoleum Fish)

Well, my Fish deck has gotten a bit better since it's last version. It has gotten a bit of a remake while still keeping my old Mausoleum concept.

1- Removed EBI Chacu Challhua in favor of other tribute monsters.

2- Used Rai-Oh and Vanity's Fiend as discussed by a few members of the Fish thread to add a degree of control.

3- Now using 2-3 copies of Royal Decree as well as the lone Call of the Haunted as my only traps. Decree allows me to freely swarm without the worry of Solemn Warning, Solemn Judgment, Dark Bribe, Mirror Force, Torrential Tribute, and other disruptive traps.

4- Using a single copy of The Creator. While it may seem unorthodox, The Creator helps for those post-swarm plays and revival of used up synchros and/or Coelacanth to keep field advantage.

5- Using 2 Nimble Sunfish instead of 3. 2 Sunfish allows me to only dump Fishborg quickly and then use the second one for tribute or discard. 3 seemed a little redundant in this build.

6- This deck can summon Shooting Star Dragon so well, its not even funny! One game my field was Shooting Star, Stardust, and The Creator as a recovery play.

7- Gold Sarcophagus helps the deck move a lot better than I thought, since it allows for the only consistant search of Coelacanth.

8-Using 3 copies of Oyster Meister really helps summon Shooting Star Dragon a lot easier, hence why the 3 copies instead of the usual 2.

And now...for the decklist

Monsters: 22

Coelacanth x3

The Creator

Vanity's Fiend x2

Gorz, Emissary of Darkness

Thunder King Rai-Oh x2

Royal Swamp Eel x3

7-Colored Fish x2

Metabo Shark

Oyster Meister x3

Nimble Sunfish x2

Golden Flying Fish

Fishborg Blaster

Spells: 15

Mausoleum of the Emperor x3

Moray of Greed x2

Terraforming

Pot of Avarice

Mystical Space Typhoon x2

Book of Moon x2

Gold Sarcophagus x2

Monster Reborn

Dark Hole

Traps: 3

Call of the Haunted

Royal Decree x2

Extra Deck: 15

Shooting Star Dragon

Formula Synchron

Stardust Dragon

Scrap Archfiend x2

Mist Wurm

Colossal Fighter

Blackrose Dragon

Magical Android

Goyo Guardian

Iron Chain Dragon

Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

X-Saber Urbellum (soon to be replaced by Gungnir)

Thoughtruler Archfiend

Hopefully there should be some videos of the deck in action soon. But that's all for now.

So Gravekeepers topped YCS...

Really happy to see the deck top a big event. Even happier to see it getting the top 3 spots.

The deck has always been a great consistent deck that focused on control (both graveyard and hand to some extent), and it finally managed to come on top. However, I think this was all possible thanks to Gravekeeper's Recruiter.

By being able to search for any Gravekeeper with a DEF of 1500 or less upon being sent to the graveyard, not only does it speed up the deck, but allows quicker access to Necrovalley via Commandant. And by having valley out quicker, it makes for more consistent Royal Tribute plays. This allows for quicker hand control, as you will most likely be dumping essential cards at any stage of the game (as long as they have enough cards in hand).

However, I'm hoping that this YCS top isn't their only one. I would like to see them make a bigger impact than they did, but even if they don't win again, it would be nice to see them at least get some of the top spots. This meta is quite diverse, but having a classic deck finally top feels like a breath of fresh air. Here's to hoping Gravekeepers do it again!

Restoring the Lost Honor: Six Samurai

With the recent release of STOR in Japan and it's upcoming February release in the TCG, it's time to take a look at these warriors and follow their new path to redemption.

The Rising Sun

The original Six Samurai were released in Storm of Neos, along with their allies (Shien and Enishi) as a multiple attribute warrior deck focused on swarming the field. They also had an ability to let another samurai be destroyed instead, which allowed for some aggressive plays without having to lose your key players. They concentrated mostly on destroying opponent's cards, such as backrows, face-down monsters, and monsters after damage calculation.

They would be big players at the occasional tournaments, being a consistent deck that was easily able to push for some big plays. But people felt that something was missing...

Western Alliances: Shogun, Hand, and Gateway

TCG-Land brought these warrios some new help. First off, Grandmaster was an incredible boost to them, allowing for some quicker, more aggressive swarms and even more protection at the same time. Even today, Grandmaster is still one of the biggest players in any Six Samurai deck.

It wasn't until Duelist Genesis that they got a little bit more support in form of Hand of the Six Samurai, which allowed for even more destruction at the cost of 1 samurai on the field. Hand gave some incredible support as well, but it wasn't until SOVR that Samurais got their biggest tool...Gateway.

Gateway allowed Samurais to make an epic comeback (not so much in the big time competitions, but they were being played more at locals and regionals). Not only did Gateway allow them to search another Samurai from the deck (similar to Black Whirlwind) or graveyard, but also allowed revival of an effect Shien monster from the graveyard. Now, while the revival of a Shien didn't seem too practical at first, there's a new wave of Samurai that would love to revive their Shien.

Truly Legendary: The New Six Samurai

Storm of Ragnarok unveiled the "True Six Samurai" sub-archetype not too long ago. And with this, the samurai have a few new tricks up their sleeves, as well as their own tuner and synchro. And their synchro is...yes, a Shien effect monster. So Gateway can go nuts with that one. But these new samurai offer a new array of destruction abilities, as well as further swarms and compatibility with both old and new samurai alike.

As well as new monsters, they have gained a few new spells and traps to support them, including Magatama of Musakani. It will negate any destruction effect as long as you have a Six Samurai on your field, and it's a counter trap to boot. Along with a new field and few other spells and traps, it's no surprise these new samurai are here to stay. It seems they are already making an impact in the OCG meta, but only time will tell how great their era of dominance will be.

Rock n' Stun

Monsters: 18

Koa'ki Meiru Wall x3

Koa'ki Meiru Sandman x3

Koa'ki Meiru Guardian x3

Koa'ki Meiru Boulder x2

Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo x2

Big Piece Golem x2

Legendary Jujutsu Master x2

Neo-Spacian Grand Mole

Spells: 11

Book of Moon x2

Mystical Space Typhoon x2

Smashing Ground x2

Fissure

My Body as a Shield

Dark Hole

Nobleman of Crossout

Pot of Avarice

Traps: 11

Bottomless Trap Hole x2

Dimensional Prison x2

Skill Drain x2

Widespread Dud

Solemn Judgment

Torrential Tribute

Seven Tools of the Bandit

Royal Oppression

Widespread Dud increases destruction by designating a Koa'ki and another monster and then purposely negating something. Negate and destroy 2 all in one shot!

Boulder is there just to recruit my rocks in case I don't draw them early on.

Seven Tools is insane with all the traps being played!

Pot of Avarice has actually worked quite well, serves as late-game refuel for more control.

Gravekeeper's Recruiter

When this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard, add 1 "Gravekeeper's" monster with 1500 or less DEF from your Deck to your hand.

Now we can finally have an excellent way to move the deck besides Spy. Not only that, Recruiter gives us access to so many plays that can all give us the ability to keep hand advantage.

First off, Recruiter makes Chief worth using in the deck. Tribute Recruiter to summon Chief (add 1 Gravekeeper to your hand) and revive Recruiter for more searching later.

Combining with Descendant allows for more advantage since you destroy and now get to search. Definitely worth doing also.

A third play may consider the use of Creature Swap to keep searching while leaving your opponent one monster down, but it's something that's still in the theoretical stages.

I will post the deck and possibly a few videos as soon as I get to finish testing the changes.

Forbidden Cards for Europe and Latin America

Thanks to my friends at YGO Cordobes and the Facebook YGO Judges Group for relaying these news.

Gracias a mis amigos de YGO Cordobes y el foro de jueces Yugioh de Facebook por informar esta noticia.

Due to a new ruling from Konami, cards released originally from Shonen Jump (both magazine and manga promos) cannot be played in territories outside the States due to exclusive printing issues for that area only.

Un nuevo ruling de Konami ha dictado que cartas originalmente de Shonen Jump (ya sea de las revistas o manga) no seran legales en territorios fuera de Estados Unidos por razones de imprenta exclusiva.

Here's the list of cards banned outside North America:

Aqui esta la lista preliminal de las cartas prohibidas fuera de America del norte:

Unity,

Yu-Jo Friendship,

Judgment of the Pharaoh,

Arcana Force Ex - the Light Ruler,

Beast King Barbaros,

Tragoedia,

Genesis Dragon,

Orichalcos Shunoros,

Darkness Neosphere ,

Obelisk the Tormentor,

Golem Dragon,

The Tyrant Neptune,

Transforming Sphere,

Malefic Stardust Dragon,

The Winged Dragon of Ra,

Lightning Warrior,

Seven Swords Warrior,

Cyber Eltanin,

Hundred-Eyes Dragon,

Winged Kuriboh LV9,

Elemental Hero Absolute Zero,

Darklord Desire,

Elemental Hero The Shining

Tag Force 5

Sorry for the lack of posts, been working on a very intense college assignment and been having some personal issues I have been taking care of.

Anyways, I finally got my hands on Tag Force 5 and got to test out a few decks.

-The Inverz are a really fun archetype that can swarm really quick, but their effects seem to miss the timing when they stack.

-No Nimble Sunfish makes me sad...so my Fish deck won't be there.

-Waiting to unlock Gravekeeper's to make a newer version of Diva-Spy

-Juracs are awesome!

-Playing a normal monster deck just got a lot more fun with the stuff from Starstrike Blast

And speaking of STBL, the sneak is almost here...so my thoughts on some goodies from there in the next post.