Deck Profile: Machina Geartown

A couple weeks ago, I tried something new that I thought was gonna succeed in at least the local level. My friend told me to look at Kevin Silva's Machina Geartown deck and build that. Of course, I made my own adjustments based on my playstyle, and I saw myself getting more and more comfortable with the deck! As a result, I ended up with a 4-1 record! However, a Chaos Dragon deck with a God hand on game 3 ended my day early. In the end, I thought the deck was a huge first time success!

Now we're gonna go over some key cards that I loved playing in this deck!

Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon: An amazing 3000 ATK beatstick that comes out when Geartown gets destroyed on the field and sent to the grave. In addition, when it attacks, no Spell or Traps can be activated until the end of the damage step! This will get around any possible D-Prisons, Mirror Force, etc. Having a 3000 ATK beater can get over almost everything in this format! Last but not least, it's a Level 8! This means you can use this one card in your hand to Special Summon a Machina Fortress from your hand or Graveyard! It just shows that this card isn't a dead draw, but can also be the game winning topdeck!


Machina Peacekeeper: Instead of Gadgets, I run 3 of these things! They stress adding your Gearframes straight to your hand, which leads to getting Fortress to your hand! It will be quite easy to get the necessary cards to your hand thanks to this card. It's Union effect is quite useful too! Equip this to a bigger monster, then watch your opponent destroy it! Then you get Gearframe and you protect your monster! It annoyed quite a few opponents during the tournament!


Breaker the Magical Warrior: Wanna put 4600 on board? Summon Breaker, pop Geartown, then Special Summon the giant ass Dragon! Also, it can exterminate backrow so that you can make your big plays without much to fear! You shouldn't have much trouble dealing with heavy backrow as long as you draw your hate, and this helps a lot!

Necrovalley: Although I don't run any Gravekeepers, this card can annoy so many decks! Not to mention that it will not hurt your monsters' abilities to do whatever they need to do! It only hurts 2 of your cards: Pot of Avarice, and Monster Reborn. Other than that, this card can be a huge game-winner against the majority of the meta!

With that said and done, lets just put the decklist up!

Monsters: 20
3x Machina Peacekeeper
3x Machina Gearframe
2x Machina Fortress
1x Machina Cannon
2x Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon
3x Breaker the Magical Warrior
3x Effect Veiler
2x Tragoedia
1x Gorz the Emissary of Darkness

Spells: 17
3x Terraforming
3x Geartown
1x Necrovalley
2x Forbidden Lance
3x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Heavy Storm
1x Pot of Avarice
1x Book of Moon
1x Dark Hole
1x Monster Reborn

Traps: 3
2x Torrential Tribute
1x Solemn Judgment

Extra Deck: 15
1x Ally of Justice Catastor
1x Magical Android
1x Stardust Dragon
1x Scrap Dragon
1x Red Dragon Archfiend

2x Number 39: Utopia
1x Steelswarm Roach
1x Maestroke the Symphony Djinn
1x Photon Papilloperative
1x Gem-Knight Pearl
1x Kochi Kochi Dragon
1x Number C39: Utopia Ray
1x Number 11: Big Eye
1x Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

As for another note, it's really easy to side stuff out with this deck. If you use the right side deck, you can always side out Terraformings, Breakers, Veilers (vs Banishing deck) or Trags and Gorz (vs Inzektors).

And that's all for now! Next up will be a funny blog on what you shouldn't do at a local tournament! =D

The North American WCQ: A Bi-Polar Experience

Well, it was shockingly enough for me to say that I went to Columbus, OH for the 2012 YGO North American World Championship Qualifier. In the front surface of everything, it was a great time! Behind it all was a mixture of pro's and con's that made the trip the way it was. Time to explain most details of the entire trip.

I was chilling with friends when I got the call from my friend that changed my entire weekend. I was asked to take his spot for the trip due to personal reasons. I had to see if I could come up with the money to go cause if I couldn't, then I wouldn't know what to do for everyone. Luckily, we got paid and I got about $300 to go on this trip! I started getting ready by writing the decklist, making copies, and what not. We left at around midnight Thursday. After a few breaks and breakfast, we made it to the Convention Center at around 12:30 PM.

Next, it was me trying to earn my 2012 WCQ invite by winning a 16 player flight in the Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) I was quite confident that my Machina Gadget could beat the primary meta decks and reign supreme. Each time I entered, I got a Duelist Pack and 2 Starstrike Blast packs!

LCQ #1
Pack Pulls: Glow-Up Bulb (Holy shit! Why is it banned?)
Round 1: vs Rabbit
Game 1: He never set backrow and I Veiler'd the first Rabbit that came out. Over much?
Game 2: I misplay by not bringing out Fortress in Main Phase 2. He ends up Tour Guide'ing me to death the next turn.
Game 3: I love forcing negations with Soul Taker. So awesome! In the end, I came out on top.
Won 2-1

Round 2: vs Chaos Dragons
Game 1: I love Veiler'ing Tour Guide. It makes everything great! Aggro Fortress ftw!
Game 2: I got YGO'd. Chaos Dragons can do too much.
Game 3: I got YGO'd again. =[
Lost 2-1

Off for another try! I had time for it. Too bad it was my last chance to get an invite.

LCQ #2
Pack Pulls: Glow-Up Bulb (AGAIN!) Naturia Cherries, and Eccentric Boy
Round 1: vs Rabbit
Game 1: Nothing was done for like 5 turns at some point. I eventually draw a Gadget and then outplayed him the rest of the way. Macro Cosmos sucked.
Game 2: I responded to everything! He got nothing and Gadgets were beating him to death!
Won 2-0

Round 2: vs Inzektors
Game 1: Chain Disappearance on Dragonfly? Nice! After I Solemn Judgment his Leviair, I won the game.
Game 2: Royal Decree screwed him bad since I actually sided out traps. It made me not scared at all to aggro for game.
Won 2-0

Semifinal: vs Chaos Dragon
Game 1: Steelswarm Roach was quite effective! It forced him to destroy it after I attacked Ryko with it! Went for game and I Warning'd his Battle Fader for the win!
Game 2: Future Fusion huh? Fossil Dyna prevents everything! No Five-Headed Dragon for you! Good game.
Won 2-0

Final: vs Rabbit
Game 1: Feeling really nervous, I just did everything I did before against Rescue Rabbit. VEILER THE DAMN BITCH! Two of them in a row! Nice win in the end!
Game 2: Feeling even more nervous about this! I didn't even side out Veiler since I felt good about it. In the end, I just had every out to his stuff and Maestroke gave me the sweetest win all weekend!
Won 2-0

With that, I GOT MY INVITE! I also took home a Hieratic Dragon Regional mat and since I registered for the WCQ, I also got an Inzektor mat and a pack of 80 WCQ sleeves! It was the most amazing and most relieved feeling ever to know that I came to get my invite, and completed the mission! Now I have to get ready for the next day to try and kick some more ass!

Everything going good until...The power went out in 90% of Ohio. We couldn't check into our hotel room since the power was out and we had no way in. Some places in Ohio got power back, but our hotel never got power. In the end, I had to sleep in the car with 4 other guys, and I was in the middle of 2 of them in the back seat. Not to mention it was hot and very uncomfortable! In the end, I got ZERO sleep and I was up for like over 24 hours straight after a while. No matter, I was to get ready to play in the main event!

After walking around the really nice looking room that the main event was in, I decided to FINALLY charge my phone and playtest for a little bit before it all started. I went to buy stuff from people and got more cool stuff.

NOW we go for the REAL event! How far will I go? We'll find out!

WCQ Report

Round 1: vs Chaos Dragons
It was the dude that got 3rd place at YCS Dallas with HERO beat. It didn't stop me!
Game 1: NO gadgets or Gearframes drawn. I still survive the game with just a Tragoedia!
Game 2: Better, but he opened with 2 Effect Veilers and stopped stuff. I lose eventually.
Game 3: Drew really bad! Why isn't my deck showing up? Spirit Reaper in the end raped me. =[
0-1

Round 2: vs T.G.
Game 1: Very close game here going back and forth, but he had a Horn of the Phantom Beast on his Tengu to plus like crazy and win.
Game 2: Had more control despite Skill Drain. I love the ability to Xyz! After winning this game, time ran out and it was ruled a draw.
0-1-1

Round 3: vs Dark World
Game 1: Thought I'd win this one with beatdown, but he drew into one card and got everything to go his way. Oh well.
Game 2: Responses to everything lead to me winning this one. God I hate Grapha sometimes!
Game 3: Prohibition on Grapha! YAY! I take this one home after a Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror came out!
1-1-1

Round 4: vs Wind-Ups
I start to get really really tired this round. I determined whether I'd drop by winning or losing.
Game 1: He had complete control after I misplayed and Veiler'd too early. Factory and Rabbit is such a bitch.
Game 2: I figure out how to beat the deck and win with Gadgets!
Game 3: I start to fall asleep here. I dropped my hand trying to stay awake and he just had everything to win at that point. I drop here.
1-2-1 Drop

After that, I start going to the vendors and buy whatever I thought was a good buy and sold whatever good things I had in my binder. At the end of the day, I bought way too much! Oh well! We go to our hotel and THE POWER IS ON! We go swimming and relax our stress away in the spa! =] After that we pretty much chilled at our hotel room and playtested so that the others can try and get their 2013 invite. That and I ate a shit ton of chips and White Castle chicken rings! =D After that I fell asleep on the floor and we woke up at like 11 AM.

Sunday I just bought from vendors and sold them a bunch of stuff. Now my binder is pretty much raped and nothing to trade. After watching the press conference for the voice actors, I decided to eat, then walk around to see more eye candy that was walking around the convention center all weekend! Gigity gigity goo!

After a relaxing day at the convention center, we go to our hotel only to find out we lost power AGAIN! So we decided to say fuck it and drive back home.After 12 hours in the car together including breaks and what not, I finally made it home right when I was supposed to wake up for school that morning. Did I go? HELL NO! I skipped like a bastard!

And there you go folks. My experience at Nationals 2012 in Ohio. Hopefully I'll get another chance next year to go if I'm even still playing YGO by then!

So what will win the North American WCQ?

It's impossible to predict the PERSON that will win the WCQ, but it IS possible to predict what deck that will win it all. Will a dominant deck take the crown, or will a Tier 2 deck reign supreme?

Speaking of Tier 2 decks, quite a few of them have splashed into top 8 in many different WCQ's all around the world! From Sea Lancer, to Machina Gadgets, to even Six Samurai! I've even seen a BS deck top! As much as I have to tell everyone. A Tier 2 deck is not as good as a Tier 1 deck, but if the player masters the deck frontwards and back, then the player will have the result of a Tier 1 deck. Many people play the deck in the tournament of their lives that represent what they're the best at. Others, just play a deck that wins all the time and know how to use it very well.

If you go on YouTube, you should be able to find most of the decklists that people topped with in different countries. It doesn't mean that they will do anything here in North America though. Usually what topped in recent YCS's are what's gonna top here. The only decks that I believe will have a chance to top here are Dino Rabbit, Inzektors, and Chaos Dragons. I really cannot see any other deck doing well as the rest of them are bad. It doesn't mean you can't come up with a nice story about how you won with Ojama's or something like that. It just means that too many of the big 3 decks will be played. Therefore, nothing else will have much of a chance.

As a Machina Gadget player though, I've figured out easily on how to beat each of the big 3 decks. Chaos Dragons are a pain in the ass because every game 3, they got Future Fusion and won the very next turn. I'm really good at locking down Inzektors. I'm x-1 with the deck against Inzektors. As for Dino Rabbit, I have almost no experience against it because my locals don't play it. Since I can get around a Laggia very easily with my build, I don't think it's too much of a problem since my deck doesn't care at all about Macro Cosmos.

All I will tell you is that this year, it should have been in Las Vegas. The entire game as of right now is about how lucky you are. Obviously it's been like that since the game came out. However, luck is even more important than ever. You might have a nice hand to work with, but does your opponent have one card that can win them that turn? Worst of all, did you open with Effect Veiler? The game is way too luck based today. I mean 2 of the 3 big decks do not require any thought whatsoever. You just drop cards, and they tell you how to play the rest of the deck.

To conclude to all of this, I must tell you what will win the WCQ this year. I hate to break it to everyone, but Dino Rabbit will win. They just have everything needed to win. The object to Dino Rabbit is to make your Main Deck as expensive as possible and you win the entire tournament. Are those RYMP Macro Cosmos? I GOT SUPER ONES! I WIN! I do also think that the winning Dino Rabbit deck will play a Banishing theme to it in the main deck. It kinda ruins everything if I'm not mistaken.

Well everyone, have fun this coming weekend. Don't punch holes in the wall if you get Future Fusion'd on turn 1.

The Psychology of a Premiere Event

With the North American WCQ coming up, if you're going, what are your expectations? Do you expect to go far? Do you expect to scrub out? In this blog, we're going to go over the healthy approaches to having a successful premiere event, and for some people, vacation.

First off, what deck will you be running? Some people have many decisions to make on that. I remember my trip to YCS Charlotte. My friend was deciding on Dragunity, Blackwings, Anti-Meta, or Plants. I'm usually the grand decision maker for what he runs. I told him to play the deck that you are going to have the most fun with. If you play a deck by force, you're going to lose because chances are, you're going to not know how to play it properly. Either that or you're not going to have any fun at all if you sit there and lose round after round.

Another thing that people fail to do is to be themselves. I don't mean that as in you being you. I meant that your card choices have to be you. Even if you play the cards only at your local tournament, there's still a really good chance that you will encounter a deck like the ones you play at your locals. This is what we call player preference. This means the cards that YOU play that bring you the results that you desire. Lets say 2 people play Machina Gadgets. I personally like to play 3 Gearframes, 2 Fortress, and 1 Cannon. My friend tries that out and doesn't like it. He gets better results with 3 Fortress instead of 2. The truth is, you will not be successful if you netdeck someone card for card. There will be cards that you wish you had in there that your normally like.

The hardest thing to do in any Premiere Event is to take a loss that you know you could have easily avoided. Misplays happen all the time, and that included very stupid ones. I remember at a Virginia Regional that I lost because I forgot to use Solemn Warning on a Chaos Sorcerer, and next turn I had game. Instead, I lost, and it made me wanna quit. The best players have the ability to recover from it and just move on. If you can have a short-term memory (not like 5 seconds short) for just one day, you'll be completely fine. If you even THINK about your last round misplay during the next round, you will misplay again, and you will eventually drop from the tournament because your head is just not into the game.

So how should I approach a Premiere Event? First off, you need to assume that you're going to have like an x-4 day because so many people will be playing. I tried this psychological method, and I ended up x-1 after 6 rounds in New Jersey a couple of years ago. After my mind woke up and realized what I had just done, I thought so much about it during the last 2 rounds of day 1. All I needed to do was win just ONE more round to make it to day 2 in my very first Premiere Event! Instead, misplays stormed against me and I lost both rounds. I took it quite hard when I left the building, and that night when I was lying on the hotel floor. To sum up the rest, don't even think about your record. Just take it one round at a time, and pretend it's round 1 each and every round.

I even understand the nervousness of the last round. Some people are on the bubble, and they need to win, or they're out. For those rounds, just play it slowly and take your time. Don't even put a card on the table unless you're absolutely sure that's the right play to make. If you're that nervous about the last round, then that's EXACTLY what it feels like to be in the same spotlight as of someone in the NFL or any professional sport. All you have to do is be very cool under pressure, and make sure that you don't think about anything else except what you're doing right now.

In conclusion, just don't think about winning every round. Don't even think about having a success story for fellow players to to look up to. You should assume that you're not going to hold a trophy or a Blood Mefist by the end of the weekend. As long as you do that, well...anything can happen!

Six Samurai: The New Local Bandwagon?

Earlier, like a couple of months ago, there were so many Six Samurai decks that I had to sit there and come up with a side deck specifically for stopping the overrated deck. As a HERO player back in that time, I couldn't get the record against the deck that I wish I could have gotten. The one thing that I absolutely hated about HERO's was that the deck gave me the middle finger now and again, and I opened up with mainly useless cards at that point and time.

Konami reprinted Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En, in the Ra Yellow Mega Pack - Special Edition, which is available at Target, and Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier, Naturia Beast, and Naturia Barkion were reprinted in Gold Series Haunted Mine. The hardest card to get now for the deck is Ally of Justice Catastor. Now we're getting an entire Structure Deck full of Six Samurai reprints, and with the results of Six Samurai around here, I believe that the people that can't top with anything are going to turn to the deck for results.

So lets price the deck up, assuming that we bought a Special Edition, 3 Structure Decks, and then we bought the remaining 4 cards from Troll and Toad.

Decks: $32 (after tax)
Special Edition: $14 (after tax)
Brionac: $12
Beast: $10
Barkion: $10
Catastor: $18
Shipping: $4
Grand Total: $100

Wow. For a very competitive deck in the format that we're in, that's a really cheap deck! I'm going to assume that you have the rest of the staples, Xyz's and cheap Synchro's necessary to build the deck. Of course, if you buy the cards from people, you'll be paying less than that for the deck. So if you're looking for a competitive budget deck, this is the deck for you.

By looking at the spoiler here, you'll know that EVERYTHING you need to make a Six Samurai deck is right in the box! The only cards that you'll need to have that are not in the deck are Shi En, Kagemusha of the Six Samurai, and Asceticism of the Six Samurai. Other than that, you should be good! Also if you have Effect Veiler's, you should use those too. If you don't have them, then you can use Forbidden Chalice, which is available in the Battle Pack.

Am I looking forward to seeing so many Six Samurai players when the deck comes out? To be honest, I'm really not. Well, my Machina Gadgets are an excellent matchup against the deck, so I should have no problem wrecking a local tournament full of them. However, it'll suck having to play the same deck over and over again. I remember when I spent 3 out of 4 rounds playing Samurai, and it got boring. Least I beat 2 of them, where the other one I just wasn't thinking for whatever reason. Oh well.

Anyways, enjoy the budget builder tips. I just hope that not too many people do this. I don't wanna spend the day playing Samurai!

Deck Profile: Lightraysworn

For weeks, I have been slowly collecting everything necessary to complete my own version of the deck. I've seen so many builds, and eventually, I know the one which I will be building my deck around. However, we'll just go over the build that I currently have. Of course, the deck needs some work, but you all can try it out on DN and see if it can do anything for you.

This build doesn't have any Judgment Dragons, and it doesn't have as many Lightsworn monsters in it, but it's more original than most of the builds that I've seen so far. The only thing that I am currently working on right now for this build is the ability to speed the deck up. Sometimes, you will draw very slow hands, and you'll get absolutely nowhere.

With that said and done, lets go over some key cards.

Freed the Brave Wonderer: Some of you may be asking this. WHY?! This is part of my originality. In case you don't know what it does, it's a 1700 beatstick, and you can banish 2 LIGHT monsters from your Graveyard to destroy a face-up monster with higher ATK than this card. What are the chances of a monster higher than 1700 ATK being on your opponent's field? Pretty damn good actually! Just by getting this effect to activate once is a giant step in bringing out Lightray Sorcerer. Chances are, another one of your monsters will somehow be banished, and thus, Sorcerer is live!

Lightray Daedelus: This is the easiest of the 4 Lightray monsters in the deck. All you need is ANY 4 LIGHT monsters in your Graveyard. It doesn't even matter if it's 3 of one card. It's effect isn't very significant because of the requirement of a Field Spell card being needed on the field to use the effect, but the fact that you're dropping a 2600 ATK beater for NO REASON is a very nice thing! Think about it. You can get over Lightpulsar Dragon, Any Evolzar Xyz, Monarch, and Shi En!

Lightray Diablos: One of the 2 harder Lightrays to bring out. It's a solid 2800 ATK beater that needs 5 or more different LIGHT monsters in your Graveyard. This isn't hard to do with all the milling power you have. It's effect, however, is very nice! You banish a LIGHT monster from your grave to target an opposing set card. Reveal it, then determine whether it goes to the top or bottom of the deck. It's so nice that you can take your opponent's card and choose what to do with it! Think about this. If that's the only card your opponent possesses, just keep putting it on top and you win!

Lightray Gearfried: Same requirements as Diablos, but this one is only a semi-nomi monster! Meaning that if you summon it properly, you can bring it back! It's effect is that you can banish a LIGHT Warrior monster from your grave to negate a Spell/Trap and destroy it! However, you must ONLY control Warriors to use the effect. It's still a nice 2800 ATK beater that you can drop for no reason, but if you can ever use it's effect, you'll be in great shape!

Lightray Sorcerer: Probably the harder Lightray to pull out. All you need is any 3 banished LIGHT monsters to Special Summon this card. Due to the use of Freed the Brave Wonderer, this card can easily become live! However, this may be kicked for probably another Diablos and Gearfried, depending on testing results. Anyways! You can shuffle a banished LIGHT monster back into the deck to banish 1 face-up monster your opponent controls! However, you cannot attack the same turn you use it's effect. It's great for recycling cards like Honest, Effect Veiler, and other LIGHT monsters that you wouldn't want in your grave.

The rest, should be quite obvious to the eye. This may not be the exact deck that I have right now, but these are my intentions whenever I get all the cards! After that, I go for the next level of making this deck, and that's making it tournament-level! Without further reading, here's the decklist!

Monsters: 30
3x Lightray Daedelus
2x Lightray Diablos
2x Lightray Gearfried
2x Lightray Sorcerer
3x Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter
3x Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress
1x Jain, Lightsworn Paladin
1x Ehren, Lightsworn Monk
2x Freed the Brave Wonderer
2x Effect Veiler
1x Honest
2x Card Trooper
2x Necro Gardna
1x Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
1x Tragoedia
1x Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning

Spells: 12
1x Charge of the Light Brigade
1x Reinforcement of the Army
3x Solar Recharge
2x Monster Reincarnation
2x The Warrior Returning Alive
1x Heavy Storm
1x Dark Hole
1x Monster Reborn

Fill in your Extra Deck here since I'm too lazy to type it in.

Card of the Week: 6/4/12

I'd have brought this segment to my YouTube channel, but I decided that I'm much better off writing it out rather than explain everything via video, considering that I'm very bad at talking and explaining things when it really counts.

Every Monday night (when possible) I'll post a card that I'll review that can be very effective against the meta. I try not to review cards that are typically used in the meta, but if it's something very significant, I'll go ahead and review it. I don't rate cards or anything. I just tell you how recommended it is for certain decks and why.

Anyways! On to the first card of the week!

Mirror of Oaths
Normal Trap
Activate only when your opponent Special Summons a monster(s) from their Deck. Destroy that monster(s) and draw 1 card.

We keep it nice and simple tonight with a trap that can be sided against the majority of the decks in this format. I'd say main deck this, but it's just not consistent enough for it to be mained. However, with the mass reprint of Tour Guide, I could consider otherwise. It would stop your opponent from Xyz Summoning, and it lets you draw one card, which could be a key factor in the game! Now I'm sure that you actually have to destroy the monster in order to draw the card, so if that monster is hit by Forbidden Lance, you're screwed. If it's Sangan that you're going to destroy, then you got a choice to make! Let them Xyz and not get a search, or let them search and draw a card. That choice is quite tough.

It's not just Tour Guide that you can stop. You can stop other cards that you may see on your way through the tournament! Here are a few of them!

Gladiator Beasts: When they tag in, you can use it on the monster(s) that they tagged in! It can likely mess what they were trying to do up, and we all know how important draw power is in this game. It's very unlikely, however, that you would even get to use this when they tag out Gyzarus.

Inzektor Dragonfly: Say you set a couple of backrow, and they miss Mirror of Oaths. You can use it to destroy Centipede and draw a card! However, if they do the Zektkaliber combo, you will only get to destroy one of the Inzektors that they Special Summon.

Gravekeeper's Spy: Whichever GK they summon will get destroyed. This can be used to stop Descendent from doing anything to your field. I'm pretty sure that your opponent won't scrub MST on it with lots of backrow. However, this does not work during the Damage Step.

Rescue Rabbit: Even if you only hit one, you disturb the strategy, and you draw a card! Nothing better than not letting your opponent get an Evolzar Xyz out on the field!

Overall, it's not a bad card to use. Personally, I think it's a great local card to use in your side deck. However, not as good at a Regional or YCS. If anything, you should try it! Study the decks that are played at your local and give it a try! I guess if you have that kind of luck playing local decks at Regionals, then you should play it as well.