Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Verz, My New Interest

Every time new stuff for Duel Terminal comes out, I always have one specific archetype I'm loyal to. At first, it was the Ice Barriers (yeah, that didn't go well), then I moved on to the Genex Ally (really fun deck), and finally moved on to Ritua (not calling it Gishki). However, when the Verz arrived, they caught my attention in a big way.

I really like how they are "contaminated" forms of previos DT characters. What makes it even better is that they actually have some potential to be a pretty fun deck to use. Yeah, there's a version out there that's mostly for Rabbit shenanigans, but I'm not talking about that one. I'm talking about a deck mostly made of Verz monsters.



I like how they cover a lot of bases with their range of effects. They can swarm quite well, as well as manipulate the field (but that one takes a bit more time). What really impresses me are the Xyz cards, which are contaminated forms of one of my favorite archetypes, the Ice Barriers.


I'm going to see if I make a deck based on these guys, just to mess around. Heck, these new things are the only thing keeping my YGO spirit alive until I can find a place to go that I like. Oh well, off to test with the Verz deck.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Wind-Ups: More Than Just a Toy

Wind-Ups, first revealed in Generation Force as the first archetype fully dedicated to Xyz summoning. At first, a simple set of toys with potential, now a deadly force to be reckoned with. This is Archetype Analysis: Wind-Up Edition.

Micro Machines

Wind-Ups had their start at the end of the Synchro era, a time where Xyz were very few in number and was the newest monster in town. At first, people seemed skeptical of these new monsters, still confining in Synchros for all of their needs. However, Wind-Ups knew they were built for Xyz shenanigans. While these toys normally had their effect once while on the field, it called for some good tricks too. But no trick could ever compare to Soldier and Dog, the first level manipulators of the group. These two made it possible for Rank 5 to be achieved quickly, which seemed to be the power Rank of the moment (Tiras and Adreus were going nuts).



Their effects also managed to have synergy with themselves, allowing for the deck to have some mobility. Factory and Magician accomplished these tasks quite well, adding a Wind-Up to either your hand or field whenever an effect goes off. And they also had their first Xyz, Zenmaister, which allowed them to reuse their effect by flipping them. But at the time, this wasn't enough to get these guys on the top shelf at the toy store. They needed something else...

Not Your Average Toy...

During their next set (Photon Shockwave), more Xyz monsters and Wind-Ups became available. During this time, we saw that these guys could pack a punch. Not only by their own releases, but by the TCG Exclusive release of Zenmaines. Zenmaines is a Rank 3 Xyz that allowed to keep field presence and destroy for it's survival. Right there, Rank 3 was becoming the norm via cards like Tour Guide. But Wind-Ups weren't going to fade away in obscurity. Cards like Wind-Up Rabbit allowed for further rewinding of these fun toys, as well as refueling Factory for greater advantage. Cards like Hunter and Kitten were also created to manipulate your opponent's hand and field.

Rabbit and Zenmaines were starting to get these guys on the map, allowing for more shenanigans and increasing the archetype's power. They were starting to captivate more players, becoming a really fun deck full of possibilities. However, nothing could prepare them for the incredible onslaught that was Order of Chaos.

Toys For All

Order of Chaos strapped these guys to a rocket and let them fly! With the release of Rat and Zenmaity, Wind-Ups went from fun toys your kid brother played with, to the mighty action figures you brag about to your neighbor. Rat allowed for special summoning of other Wind-Ups and also set the standard for Rank 3 summoning thanks to Zenmaity. This incredibly ship allowed for what it an incredible loop involving itself, Rat, and Hunter. With one Zenmaity you can bring out one Rat from anywhere and just open the door to insanity. While they are perfectly capable of achieving other shenanigans, the Zenmaity Hand Control Combo is the most famous one. However, there's also another card that took them to another level, Shark.

Shark allowed for level manipulation of itself by either reducing or adding a level to itself. And better yet, it was once per turn. This card helps fuel Factory in so many ways that it's amazing. And it can special summon itself after the summon of another Wind-Up, thus boosting their shenanigans even more.

So with all this, it's no wonder that Wind-Ups are here to stay. They are a powerful archetype full of bringing out dangerous Xyz monsters that can cripple you is you aren't careful. I think they got what it takes to compete with the best, so now it's only a matter of time until we see if they can pass the test.

Friday, January 20, 2012

Dark Ascension: The Zombie Invasion

With Dark Ascension to be released soon, and with more and more card released, I have noticed that one group of cards is gaining a ton of incredible support. And that group is none other than Zombies, lords of the undead. The zombies here are so good, even I'm considering building a deck around them.

But for now, I'm just gonna take a look at a few of the cards that are definitely going to be a must-have for any Zombie deck.

First off, we have Gravecrawler:


Simple, yet effective. Gravecrawler is ideal for any Zombie deck just on the basis of constant revival. Controlling one zombie isn't hard enough either, so this makes for a good card to keep returning. And even though it can't be a chump blocker, it's good at forcing your opponents to use theirs. Also good fodder for cards that need to sacrifice creatures. Overall excellent card.

What's next?


 Quite nice. Exile any zombies you might not need back to get a new zombie token and continue to buff your army. A good card to maintain field presence and make your zombies quite strong. Maybe not ideal for a pure zombie deck, but the attack boost for all of them is certainly something nice, so it's included in this list.


And then there's an amazing sorcery for them as well. Apocalypse brings them all out, which has got to be quite intimidating late game, especially after that army of the dead comes back for more. And to top it all off, it destroys all humans, but that varies on your opponent. However, the ability to revive a mass swarm of zombies for 6 mana seems pretty good to me.


And then we have the final card, Diregraf Captain.

Diregraf Captain 1UB
Creature – Zombie
Deathtouch
Other Zombie creatures you control get +1/+1.
Whenever another Zombie you control dies, target opponent loses 1 life.
2/2
Again, giving your zombies a boost is always a good thing. Having a nice 3 mana cost is also a plus, since it can come out pretty early. Not only that, but it inflicts damage after a zombie dies, so it makes good use of your chump blockers by finding more ways to deal damage.

So that's it for zombies at the moment, more to come soon.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Wind-Up Deck

In my quest to keep my YGO spirit alive, I have turned to deck making once again (even if it's just online). This time around, I have made Wind-Ups, one of the most fun decks I have seen in a while. Perhaps I could take it for a few duels soon...



It's still a work in progress, but it's been working so far. It's really fun. 

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Looking For Players

Already found a place for MTG, but I still am searching for some YGO players in the Washington, PA area. Trying to see if I can find any player MTG or YGO through this place.

So if you live nearby, play MTG or Yugioh (even Pokemon is accepted), then comment below and we can get in touch to duel sometime.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Dark Ascension: New Mythics

With more and more cards being revealed for the new set, I stumbled upon a few of the mythics to be included in this set. Let's take a quick look at them:


First up, we have a new card for Spirit decks. Seems a bit expensive for a creature, but then again, you can't mess with flying, double strike, and lifelink all in the same time. Not just that, Reaver fuels a good draw engine whenever you gain life, whether it's by one of it's attacks or by any other card. So perhaps we can see a strategy that involves increasing life and card drawing in some way.


Just like every dragon card, it has a high cost and it flies. However, this one is quite interesting, since it can provide a nice buff for your creatures for that turn. And it can be done as many times as you can provide mana for, so it's quite good. However, don't see it in any Innistrad themed decks. Perhaps it's too early to tell.


A possible hybrid between human and vampire decks? Don't know, but it seems that this card will surely benefit from a deck of that kind. The sacrificing a creature in order to be indestructible is a very good effect, as you can sacrifice vampire tokens, for example. But perhaps with the new cards that produce human tokens, this card can become quite deadly indeed.

And last but not least, we got ourselves a Planeswalker!


Producing vampire tokens to protect itself, nice! Giving your creatures a nice attack boost, also nice! Select up to 3 creatures or planeswalkers, destroy them and then take control of them afterwards? Now, that's completely insane! No doubt, Sorin packs a punch in this one. Taking creatures is really good, but the ability to also take planeswalkers puts this into a whole new category. Surely, Sorin will be a valuable asset to any deck that can use him.

Well, those are all the mythics we know of for the moment. More stuff to come as it unfolds.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Wind-Up Shark


When a “Wind-Up” monster is Normal or Special Summoned to your side of the field: You can Special Summon this card from your hand. Once per turn: You can activate 1 of these effects.
● Increase this card’s Level by 1, until the End Phase. 
 
● Reduce this card’s Level by 1, until the End Phase.
Just because I haven't found a place to play YGO yet, doesn't mean I'm not gonna keep up to date on what's going on. There's still Dueling Network for me. Anyways, let's take a look at this new exclusive from ORCS, shall we?

Shark is an awesome addition to any Wind-Up deck, especially since it allows for crazy Xyz shenanigans when you combine it with Wind-Up Soldier or Wind-Up Dog. And if you just feel like going into Rank 4, then go for it. This little thing can go into 3 different ranks all on it's own, which is pretty impressive.

But for one, I'm glad it's restricted to Wind-Ups. The synchro shenanigans this thing would also unleash are going to be insane. However, that hasn't stopped people from testing out new plays, right?

Wind-Up Shark is not only a crazy Xyz enabler, but a great way to set off Wind-Up Factory every turn. In short, this card is good, the art is great, and it's just overall full of awesome. I see this thing making an impact someday.

Monday, January 9, 2012

Dark Ascension: New Mechanics

With the Dark Ascension pre-release event coming at the end of the month, we are finally getting some spoilers for the new set. And with those spoilers also comes information from new mechanics. While the old mechanics from Innistrad (Transform, Morbid, Flashback, Curse) are returning, we are also getting two new mechanics: Undying and Fateful Hour.

So let's get to these mechanics.


Fateful Hour is an ability that will activate while your life is at 5 or less. Not only that, but it will stay active as long as those requirements are met. But keep in mind that if you gain life for some reason, and it goes to 6 or above, Fateful Hour abilities will vanish. So it's interesting to see how this new ability will affect comebacks in games once this set is out.

And the next ability is Undying:


Creatures with the undying ability will "come back to life" as long as that creature has no +1/+1 counters on it. And when it does revive, give it a +1/+1 counter. Perhaps we will see some counter shenanigans to keep abusing this mechanic. Either way, I'm sure that creatures with Undying will be quite interesting. These creatures will be quite fun to use against cards with Infect, especially since they will keep losing that counter from undying.

More from Dark Ascension to come. That's all for now.

Friday, January 6, 2012

MTG Mobile App

I'm finally back with a Magic update. Been a while since I played, but today I finally managed to find a new store where I had a few games, so being back in action got me to check up on what I have missed. And then I find this little gem...


That's right! There's going to be an official MTG app soon. And not just that, but it looks pretty neat. It's got the basics such as life meter, number of players, and deck building utilities. However, this one also has the ability to search for nearby events, find stores, and lets you read the articles from the MTG site as well. 

Those are all pretty good features to have on an app. So it makes it feel pretty much complete.

I'm most looking forward to having the online gatherer be at my fingertips. So that way, I don't have to be on my computer whenever I think up of an idea for a deck or something. Not just that, but being able to test out the decks I build on this app is something I seriously need, especially since I can test my opening hands. That way, I can tell if I gotta go back to the drawing board.


I'm just glad this app is coming out at the same time I find a place where to keep playing MTG.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Turbo Pack 7

Just saw the list for the new Turbo Pack. Here it is:

TU07-EN000 Ally of Justice Catastor (Ultimate Rare)
TU07-EN001 Book of Moon (Ultra Rare)
TU07-EN002 Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke (Super Rare)
TU07-EN003 Yellow Gadget (Super Rare)
TU07-EN004 X-Saber Pashuul (Super Rare)
TU07-EN005 Horn of the Phantom Beast (Super Rare)
TU07-EN006 Dark Horus (Rare)
TU07-EN007 Lightning Warrior (Rare)
TU07-EN008 Primal Seed (Rare)
TU07-EN009 Big Evolution Pill (Rare)
TU07-EN010 Tail Swipe (Rare)
TU07-EN011 Geartown (Rare)
TU07-EN012 Seiyaryu 
TU07-EN013 Serpent Night Dragon 
TU07-EN014 Kotodama 
TU07-EN015 Gokipon 
TU07-EN016 Goe Goe the Gallant Ninja 
TU07-EN017 Herald of Orange Light 
TU07-EN018 Blackwing - Sirocco the Dawn 
TU07-EN019 Ninjitsu Art of Transformation 
TU07-EN020 Ninjitsu Art of Decoy

Gotta say, it's a curious list. Catastor and Moon are indeed excellent cards, but aren't enough to hook me on this turbo pack. TU06 hooked me with a greater selection of rares, but this one doesn't hook me that much. There are a few commons I could go after, as well as the Ninja support which could become useful. However, throwing the lone Yellow Gadget there makes me wish the others would also get foil treatment and not just have 1 getting it.

I dunno, the list is okay, I guess.

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