sept 2012 banlist ideas. (From a wind-up players perspective)

Okay so with the sept banlist 8 days away, I thought it would be a good time to write an article about the subject.

The last format that has gone has been an interesting one, with us seeing the massive rise in ARCHTYPAL play, what I mean by this, is that the format has been dominated by decks revolving around archetypes instead of the decks from last september where it was SYNCHRCENTRIC and JUNKDOPPELDEBRIS, decks which used a veriety of cards instead of cards of a particular archetype dominating the game.

So lets get started. Firstly I was browsing the internet and stumbled across the list below.




BANNED
Brionac, Dragon of The Ice Boundary.
Dark Armed Dragon.
Card Destruction.
Mind Control.
Sangan.
Wind-up Hunter.
Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the beginning.
E- Hero Electrum.
Monster Reborn.

RESTRICTED TO 1
Rescue Rabbit.
Dark Magician of Chaos.
Super Polymerization.
Inzektor Centipede.
Witch of the Black Forest.
Ultimate Offering.
Solemn Warning.

RESTRICTED TO 2
One For One.
E- Emergency Call.
Legendary Six Samurai - Shi-En.
Gladiator Beast Bestiary.

UNLIMITED
Necro Gardna.
Primal Seed.
Formula Synchron

SOURCEhttp://webpaper.co/img/34727.jpg
http://webpaper.co/img/34711.jpg
http://webpaper.co/img/34728.jpg

A good list if you ask me, BUT obviously not the true one. HOwever, its a good start. Why is it good do you ask? well let me explain deck by deck.
+ points - slows down decks with stupid loops
+ killed off the electrum FTK (check wikipedia for more info)
+allows decks to have more than one strategy rather than a GO TO PLAY every game.
+ instant win cards aboloshed all together.
+cards that allow for OTK's limited to one to reduce the chance of them occuring meaning smarter play to allow you to open up for big plays
+allowing for synchro decks to be used again as formula and one for one get semi-limited and unlimited meaning a more diverese format that has synchro's and XYZ's rather than just the latter

negatives- Warning doesnt need hitting
- Shien at 2 is a pain and should stay at 1
- bestiari at 2 means more gladbeast play, but with 2 in the deck it means that they will have too much back row destruction with MST and heavy around as well. + DMOC
- no restriction on any of the stall decks such as final countdown.

Chaos Dragons.

Main problems with chaos dragons was that they were able to SPAM HUGE MONSTERS WITH POWERFUL EFFECTS in one turn. EG BLS AND DAD by using wyvern to search out DAD and just top decking BLS. This list removes those issues therefore eliminating the powerful destruction of dragons, giving them more options as a win condition rather than just dropping BLS/DAD onto the field :).

Dino - Rabbit

Rabbit to one, deck is slowed down. The main problem with dino rabbit is the fact that it got too many plusses of searching for rabbit and then summoning it to get a free solemn judgment monster/divine wrath monster at the cost of 1 card. With sangan being banned by this list and also WITCH OF THE BLACK FOREST coming back off the ban list, sangan can't be tour guided from the deck for an instant rabbit. The deck needs to be played tactically to allow it to fully use its power play with rabbit. So problem solved there, maybe one is over kill with sangan going so maybe at 2 would seem better for the deck.

 Inzektors

Centipede at one, less search means its slower, and again without sangan to be freely tour guided, dragonfly can't be searched out as easily. Balanced hit, deffinately slows them down, but still allowing them to explode if they get the right cards by playing smart :) + with dragonfly having 1800 defence, witch of the black forest cannot search for it :)

Heroes
With super poly at one and e emergency call at 2, the deck's control is lowered along with search. Its still quick but wont be able to just steal your monster nearly every turn to give them a huge advantage. I still suggest siding cthonian polymer vs these guys because with this list, they still come across as very strong.

Gadgets

Ultimate offering to one, problem solved :)

Wind-ups
I've explained below. As a wind-up player I love this list, as we can now be more creative with our builds :D
Also let me put it into this perspective. NOWADAYS we have CORES and then staples to make most decks like inzektors wind-ups and dino rabbit.

however this list makes it so that these cores and staples leave room for more creative tech choices for example wind-ups:

Wind up core (today)

3 rat
3 shark
2 magician
2 hunter
3 rabbit
2/3 factory

This makes half your deck, so all you have to do, is add the staples (which are in every deck nowadays)

3 tour guide
1 sangan

3 mst
1 storm
1 dark hole
1 monster reborn
1 avarice
1 book of moon
1 mind control

solemn brigade
2 bottomless
2 TT

Okay so as you can see, standard wind-up build, loop combo included which usually is the only play wind-ups will make, as its the best play and the easiest way to win with the deck.

Without hunter and sangan and reborn, what happens then? well the deck needs more options to use SO the core of a deck changes. And without ONE PLAY for the deck to make, creativity is inspired. So say according to THIS LIST we can change wind-ups to be more control based or SPEED based. 

SPEED BUILD

3 rat
3 shark
1 magician
3 rabbit
1 summoner monk
1 witch of the black forest
2 wind-up bat
3 tour guide
1 tour bus
2 psychic commander

Spells

2 factory
1 eteleport
3 mst
1 storm
1 one for one
1 dark hole
1 pot of avarice

traps

1 warning
1 judgment
2 overwind
2 bottomless
2 tt
1 fiendish

As you can see the deck has speed and an abilty to be quick without the loop, leaving you with a few choices on what to make and summon whether it be Synchroing for barkion with commander or exceeding for zenmaines/carrier. A find steady wind-up build.

Then theres a control varient you can abuse

3 rat
3 shark
3 hunter
2 magician
1 knight
1 kitten
1 snail
2 snowman eater
1 spirit reaper
3 tour guide
1 tour bus

then instead of emergency teleport and one for one run 2 salvage then traps are the same.

As you can see. THIS BANLIST IS GOOD. LOOK HOW CREATIVE I CAN BE WITH MY WIND-UPS NOW WITHOUT RELYING ON THAT DAMN LOOP!!!

GG I SAY LADS IM done here.

THE FUTURE OF YUGIOH - Post Ycs Brighton Format and March 2012 thoughts.

G'day my army of cynical followers,


I know I rarely update this blog and post important stuff but YCS brighton happened recently and as a brit I felt compelled to actually post something otherwise the yugioh community may unleash the hate upon me. Also Im going to do my "FAV CARD OF THE FORMAT" in a review which I havnt done in a while thought id treat you guys, and also pass my thoughts on the end of this format and looking towards the future :D


FIRSTLY YCS BRIGHTON.


MAin decks that emerged we're of course


Dino rabbit
Darkworld
Synchrocentric


These were apparently the three most played decks at Brighton, but the deck that came out on top was DINO RABBIT played by Ping Xiao, Deck list below. (https://tcg.konami-europe.net/coverage/6429/the-top-16-decklists-of-ycs-brighton/) Reference for other lists.

Ping Xiao (Dino Rabbit, Champion)

Monsters: 20
3 Jurrac Guaiba
3 Kabazauls
3 Tour Guide From the Underworld
3 Rescue Rabbit
3 Sabersaurus
2 Maxx "C"
1 Neo-Spacian Grand Mole
1 Sangan
1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness

Spells: 12
2 Forbidden Lance
1 Pot of Avarice
2 Smashing Ground
1 Dark Hole
1 Book of Moon
1 Mind Control
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Gold Sarcophagus
1 Monster Reborn

Traps: 9
2 Dimensional Prison
2 Solemn Warning
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Trap Dustshoot
1 Mirror Force
1 Bottomless Trap Hole

Extra Deck: 15
1 Number 39: Utopia
2 Evolzar Laggia
2 Evolzar Dolkka
1 Steelswarm Roach
1 Number 17: Leviathan Dragon
2 Leviair the Sea Dragon
1 Wind-Up Zenmaines
1 Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Ally of Justice Catastor
1 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

Side Deck: 15
2 Cyber Dragon
2 Thunder King Rai-Oh
2 Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo
2 Fiendish Chain
2 Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror
2 Dimensional Fissure
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Heavy Storm
1 Spirit Reaper

So all my congrats to the boy. But in a typical cynical style we arn't BIG fans of the GOOD CARD DECKS, during the tournament there was a very unique deck which appeared simmilar to that of the psychic decks Pre September 2011, and that was Lars Junginger's Water synchro deck.

Lars Junginger (WATER Synchro, 4th Place)

Monsters: 24
3 Reborn Tengu
3 Swap Frog
3 Maxx "C"
2 Treeborn Frog
2 Caius the Shadow Monarch
2 Effect Veiler
1 Lonefire Blossom
1 Dandylion
1 Glow-Up Bulb
1 Spore
1 Junk Synchron
1 Genex Ally Birdman
1 Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning
1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
1 Ronintoadin

Spells: 13
3 Mystical Space Typhoon
3 Enemy Controller
1 Dark Hole
1 Heavy Storm
1 Monster Reborn
1 Pot of Avarice
1 Book of Moon
1 One for One
1 Foolish Burial

Traps: 4
2 Solemn Warning
1 Compulsory Evacuation Device
1 Trap Dustshoot

Extra Deck: 15
2 Gachi Gachi Gantetsu
1 Leviair the Sea Dragon
1 Number 39: Utopia
1 Formula Synchron
1 Armory Arm
1 T.G. Hyper Librarian
1 Ally of Justice Catastor
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Gaia Knight, The Force of Earth
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Ancient Fairy Dragon
1 Stardust Dragon
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

Side Deck: 15
2 Ally of Justice Quarantine
1 Spirit Reaper
2 Penguin Soldier
1 Snowman Eater
1 D.D. Crow
1 Gemini Imps
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Compulsory Evacuation Device
1 Dimensional Prison
1 Smashing Ground
2 Dust Tornado

This deck beat all plant synchro decks and proved to be the most fun looking deck also. Seems to be centred around abusing the frog engine and making gachi gachi gantetsu and reeks of a more consistent and aggressive Agent style deck. So well done sir you get my praise :D

Overall there we're 700+ people who attended the YCS Brighton event, so well dont to all top 32 players (my friend matt came 33rd :/) all playing excellent decks truly showing the best of the best in yugioh play but like in this game at the end of the day Money does talk, and Rescue Rabbit shouts the loudest.

CARD OF THE YCS AND OF THE FORMAT.

Now for my favourite part, over this format we have seen the return of the Chaos era due to the unbanning of BLS-Envoy of the Beggining. We've seen the transition of the agent deck domination period, to the incredible rise in price of Tour Guide from the underworld, more sought after than Pot of Duality in its day, and also the incredible banning of some of our favourite monsters due to the release of the XYZ monsters (MISS YOU FISHBORG). But at the end of the format, one card, in my eyes, has risen above the rest. 

This card, is none other than Number 39: Utopia.

Since the start of this format this guy instantly became a staple in nearly every extra deck. His 2500 defence and his ability to synergize with nearly every deck that uses level 4 monsters with the ability to negate 1 attack makes him a brilliant card. 

So here's the review. Guys. :D

NUMBER 39 Utopia

Effect:

2 level 4 monsters

When any player's monster declares an attack: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; negate the attack. When this card is targeted for an attack, while it has no Xyz materials; Destroy this card.

As you can see from the effect, 2 attacks negate, plus he blows himself up when he has no materials. But this in my opinion is another abusable effect.

STRENGTHS.

solid 2500 attack, very tough to beat without your opponent using a lot of resources, even then he can negate 2 attacks. He's a perfect anti-OTK monster. Also the fact he can negate ANY attack means that you can abuse the detach ability to get one of the monsters you used and place it straight into the graveyard if you please :)

Also because of decks like anti meta who use massive level 4 beatsticks, he is a great addition to add more flexibility to the deck. He also drug some decks back into formats in a big way, namely Karakuri and gadgets who seemed to be lost after the banning of Royal Oppression and the limiting of Pot of avarice.

So we salute you number 39. One of the most played starter deck cards since Machina Fortress ;D

FUTURE THOUGHTS.

With this format drawing to a close with the release of another powerful rescue card and the upcomming rise of a new dark archetype which quite frankly will be meta breaking, and the possible insta ban of "convergence of nature" due to the gishki diamond dude deck that's lurking in the depths, the end of this format is sure to be interesting. 

Its going to be down to speed as to whether dino rabbit can get dolkka out before izektors/gishki can get their loops off and destroy everything they own. Which I can see leading to the banning and limiting of some cards that allow this.

Firstly Cards who are being played a lot right now which may be limited.

Tour guide I can see being limited to 1. Due to the release of Tour bus, who is rumoured to recycle tour guide.

After this dark hole. This card has been over played too much recently and I can see march's format being down to destruction effects with monsters rather than spells. This theory can be applied to storm, but because its come back recently i doubt it will go.

BLS - This guy, just should never have come back. Way too good still and decks still we'rent ready for him. Because if you drop him, its essentially game.

A mad Choice here but a possiblility of being limited, maxx C to one. Too much advantage and can be game breaking, either put to two or one seems a logical move for konami here.

Another crazy choice that ive been considering is the limiting or ban of rabbit. He's too good, and can clearly win a game solo.

which brings me to the next card. Leviair. Rabbit combo too good, enough said. But if my tour guide limitation prediction is true, then perhaps not touched at all.

Spells wise, i think instant fusion may be banned. With exceeds emerging and the abuse that can be had with certain decks i can see this guy being touched. If im wrong I will sing Friday by rebecca black on my youtube channel for you all, but in all seriousness this card has so much potential to allow huge plays at a small cost.

OKAY AFTER LOOKING AT CARDS BEING PLAYED NOW FOR FUTURE CARDS.

INSTA LIMIT in march from order of Chaos. Wind-up rat. The combo with this card using zenmaines is unreal. Played right with hunter and inzektor's it creates a stupidly broken combo which annihilates opponents hands and fields.

after this, Inzektor Hornet, too good, destruction look with multiple of these is mad, balances inzektors and slows the deck down to a better level.

Wind up zenmaighty - its either THIS or wind-up rat TBH.

and thats it really for future cards being banned or limited :)

Decks to look out for:

there are two main decks which I see emerging after march 2012 which can be considered strong for the TCG. This includes Inzektor, Wind-up zektor and gishki, as both these decks have some incredible loops available which are easily executed and powerful so expect these to be played a lot.

Well I hope you enjoyed this read and my introspection into the future of the game and what is to occur in the formats, obviously this is very basic as im not a wizard and cant predict the future :).

PEACE OUT GUYS AND HAPPY DUELLING.

WHERE HAVE I BEEN!?!

I'll tell you where I've been, I've been busy playing at the yugioh nationals in BOLTON, this post is a week behind but this is the only time i've had free through all the university work to update my blog (apart from the 3000+ page views i now have, maybe I should keep this going hahaha)


This isn't going to be some bullshit report but its going to be an analysis of the current meta for yugioh and also what decks are going to be far more dangerous in the future. SO firstly I'm sure you all wanna know what I played.


Well i was a brave man, i turned up with a fully constructed wind-up deck and was ready to tear apart most decks, then I realised how boring they were to play. I mean doing the loop 27times in the day just to annoy some randomer didnt seem much fun to me. So I got myself some rescue rabbits and played.................


GEM KNIGHTS! (hah you thought I was going to say Dino Rabbit, NERDS!)


Thats right and I used this oppertunity to observe the gem knights as a deck and really get a feel for their potential. (DECK LIST POSTED LATER)


So I played 9 rounds in the day, beat 2 top tier decks through sheer luck and came 300th and something , all round a good day considering the deck I was playing.


But what about the meta?


WELL, in the end Dino Rabbit was in both spots in the finals, which goes to show that consistency is still key in this game rather than OTK's and Stupid loops (COugh dragons/wind-ups) and then I saw the potential for other decks, most namely,Karakuri's, Six Sam, Frogs (which are pretty much hanging on even since frog-narch and ofc the 2009 world championship OTK build) and ironically gem-knights. 


Lets start with Karakuri, with the loss of the plant engine tuners, this decks KMP build was dead, however with that loss came Creativity and funnily enough consistency and an ability to break into this years top 32 because of this consistency delivered in the form of their Synchro's, which right now are still as dangerous as ever. Lets remind our selves of their synchro's.


Firstly:

Now definitely now the key card in the deck and the best monster at their disposal, due to his ability to let you draw each turn he is potentially a + with Karakuri 00 (shown below) on the field, ALONG WITH ALL THEIR SPELL SUPPORT and other cards to work with them the karakuri's always have another play up their sleeve.


Combined with them being all of the same element and type, they make cards such as GOZEN MATCH and RIVALRY OF WARLORDS useless in opponents side decks, but allow for them to take full advantage of these cards in their own making them very versatile in a best 2 of 3 match. Plus their speed and their flexibility to synchro into the NAturia Synchro's its no surprise that this deck is still a top contender for top 32 places at National events and with the release of the Gigigear archetype in the next set, the Karakuri's will be around for probably another format or 2 yet.

Next we have the six samurai. Before march this deck was crippled by the september banlist restricting Legendary Six Samurai Shien to 1 and also Shien's smoke signal and Gateway of the six also to 1. However in september they got their break when smoke signal revived itself to two allowing them to have more search. With the introduction of their structure deck in a few weeks and within the release of a new XYZ monster PLUS the release of return of the duelist to combine with them, allowing for the use of Heroic Champion Excalibur, these guys are also going to be a force to be reckoned with in the TCG and OCG. With the negation from shien and the power of Heroic champion Excalibur, this deck could be seeing itself over taking Dino Rabbit as the top deck with very little support for it being released in the future (However this is unknown as TCG exclusives are yet to be revealed meaning both these decks could be FAR more powerful). 

With only more support in sight for SIX SAMURAI, like karakuri it'll be a long time before these guys disappear off the face of the meta game in both TCG and OCG.

Now to frogs, its hard to tell what is happening with frogs these days since the loss of substitoad and monarchs now being too slow in todays meta. Lancer Frog now being the strongest build they have, they may have the consitency but power and control they lack. However after the six samurai structure the atlantean structure deck is to be released with much water support and two particular cards that can be abused by swap frog, this may give FROGS the destruction they needed. However it is more likely that this is the last we will see of the FROG archetype for a while, as atlanteans will deffinately be taking the top spot in terms of water attributed meta decks. So its a sad day when we see these guys go, from the D.E.S OTK to the substitoad burn deck that took the world by storm in 2009, to the frognarch era in 2010/11. All I can say is frogs are done for now, but hopefully if they can fully accommodate the atlantean archetype through swap frog abuse, I can't really be sure they will be around by next septembers ban list.

NOW THEN on to gem-knights, these guys upon first release took the OCG by storm, over in the TCG however we only have a small amount of them released, i used their strongest build at nats - Rabbit Knights, abusing rescue rabbit to fuse them faster, however this wasn't enough as they again were far too slow. So why have I said this archetype will be good in the future?

Well this is down to the next hidden arsenal/duel terminal sets to be release which contain Gem-Knight Citrine/Crystal/Prismura (i think thats right :/) which are similar to the OMNI-Heroes the elemental heroes have which use Attribute to fuse, these new gem-knights use 1 gem-knights + 1 monster of a certain type. Meaning its faster than using the current gem-knights we have now which need a specific monster eg Gem-Knight aqua marine which needs Gem-Knight Sapphire + 1 Gem-knight monster. But the reason why Citrine and their other fusions are significant is their effects - Citrine is unaffected by any card affects during the damage step. Meaning its invincible to mirror force - d-prison forbidden lance fiendish chain and other cards that are popular these days, to Prismura who needs you to discard 1 gem-knight card to the grace to destroy a card on the field, however if you're using gem-knight fusion with this effect you lose nothing.

Not only this but the techs you can add to the deck to make them faster is HUGE - examples are Summoner monk. D.D.R phoenix wing wind-blast - back to square one - lightning vortex - snipe hunter, the lsit of cards that need a discard effect is endless! So watch out for gem-knights in the future as they can be a nasty rogue deck if you arn't prepared for them.

WHAT IS YET TO COME?

With the release of new sets and structure decks there are a couple of archetypes to look out for in the coming months these include - Atlanteans - Gigigear Machina's - Madolche and if they get some more support through a TCG exclusive Evol's. Probably the most powerful being Gigigear's.

For more info on these archetypes please check out the Yugioh-wikia website.

Thats it for me in this post and I hope you enjoyed reading, I shall update again soon when I start working.

PEACE

TCD

Rogue Deck Tutorial Part 1

Ladies and Gentlemen, you know me as the Cynical Duellist well its time to get cynical as I bring you a collection of rogue decks which not only are fun to play towards the end of this format, but also are rather competitive and entertaining.

But before we do anything we must first argue the idea of a rogue deck.

AS YOU KNOW in yugioh, there are 2 deck types in the top tier of play. META and ANTI-META

Now meta decks are defined by speed, they can special summon super fast and also gain huge advantage through card effects and the heavy use of the extra deck.

Some Prime examples would be, Dino Rabbit and Synchrocentric (AKA PLANT SYNCHRO)

Whereas anti-meta aims to restrict meta decks from gaining advantage using specific cards like - Thunder King Rai-oh and King Tiger wang-hu to turn play into a game of just normal summons and the occasional spell, you could argue - taking decks back to the vanilla age.

Now that that is established we can move onto the idea of a rogue deck - in yugioh as you know there are many decks out there, but only some are classed as "Tier 1" - these are decks which nearly every competetive player out there uses to try and gain victory. Like I mentioned before - Dino Rabbit and Plant synchro being the two most popular. SO! A rogue deck (by my definition) is a deck which can perfom like a meta deck with some anti meta elements, throwing you're opponent off guard making them un aware of what to expect and allowing an easier victory because your opponents struggle to counter it - as they themselves have built their sides and decks to counter the popular decks. THIS IS THE GREATEST ADVANTAGE ROGUE DECKS HAVE. Dragons can also fall into this catagory, as people dont have the balls to play them right now - but after their structure deck - LOOK OUT!

A perfect example would be Lars Junginger's deck from YCS Brighton titled (water synchro) - LIST BELOW

Lars Junginger (WATER Synchro, 4th Place)

Monsters: 24

3 Reborn Tengu

3 Swap Frog

3 Maxx "C"

2 Treeborn Frog

2 Caius the Shadow Monarch

2 Effect Veiler

1 Lonefire Blossom

1 Dandylion

1 Glow-Up Bulb

1 Spore

1 Junk Synchron

1 Genex Ally Birdman

1 Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning

1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness

1 Ronintoadin

Spells: 13

3 Mystical Space Typhoon

3 Enemy Controller

1 Dark Hole

1 Heavy Storm

1 Monster Reborn

1 Pot of Avarice

1 Book of Moon

1 One for One

1 Foolish Burial

Traps: 4

2 Solemn Warning

1 Compulsory Evacuation Device

1 Trap Dustshoot

Extra Deck: 15

2 Gachi Gachi Gantetsu

1 Leviair the Sea Dragon

1 Number 39: Utopia

1 Formula Synchron

1 Armory Arm

1 T.G. Hyper Librarian

1 Ally of Justice Catastor

1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

1 Gaia Knight, The Force of Earth

1 Black Rose Dragon

1 Ancient Fairy Dragon

1 Stardust Dragon

1 Scrap Dragon

1 Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

Side Deck: 15

2 Ally of Justice Quarantine

1 Spirit Reaper

2 Penguin Soldier

1 Snowman Eater

1 D.D. Crow

1 Gemini Imps

2 Bottomless Trap Hole

1 Compulsory Evacuation Device

1 Dimensional Prison

1 Smashing Ground

2 Dust Tornado

Now you might now be saying "merh merh merh plant synchro engine merh merh" Yes, but who at YCS Brighton expected a frog engine to be thrown in there? Clearly everyone who finished below him didn't, and look where it got him. 4th! Thats right 4th. A position I held a very long time ago myself.
The deck focusses on using caius to gain advantage through frog engine use, but also in the side deck he kept Penguin soldier (A very good card this format) to counter dino - rabbit = Yes dolkka can stop it, but its a nasty monster if you aren't prepared for it - again ROGUE DECK ADVANTAGE!

There are downsides to rogue decks and that is, after game one you must be prepared for your opponent to counter you because he knows how your deck works. (I will if people want start posting rogue deck guides to help people get out of wanting to just play meta decks right now to own on DN) which I can briefly cover - Your side deck should be cards you wanted to main but cant fit at most - keep counters to below 5 or 6 as your deck itself is counter to most meta decks, whilst being meta itself - complex I know but once you get the hang of it, it works.

Okay so now moving on - Building a rogue deck.

To build a rogue deck you must first observe the current meta and see what (or try to) understand how the meta works and the decks in it. From here you can have an idea of your rogue deck. Like Lars - who used a small monarch engine to control whilst still using plants to get the meta engine flowing within to create a consistent deck.

The deck we're going to build will be FORTUNE LADIES - an old and forgotten deck, but very comptetive when build correctly. ALWAYS REMEMBER - Speed and Control when building.

So right now cards like TOUR GUIDE and TENGU and RABBIT dominate the meta - but they all have a similar weakness - they all need to be on the field to activate. So when building the deck certain cards are needed. for example for control we will be using the field spell (Yes thats right)



This card helps slow down meta decks and anti meta but still benefits your own. May be for one turn but its enough to gain advantage especially in this deck.

So from here we need to see what monsters work well in this deck. Well for one,


works perfectly with the card. So Clealry we need a fortune lady engine. this gives us speed and advantage and with what else we're using in the deck. This is possible. A fortune Lady engine is THUS

3 Fortune lady Light < special summon
3 fortune lady dark < special summon
2 fortune lady water < Card draw
1 fortune lady fire < Control from her is amazing - free destruction > Played right she is a plus 1

So we have an engine that takes advantage of an opponents annoyance, but we havn't won yet. We still need control, draw and a win condition.

Now for control its clear we need a lot of setting up, so stall will be needed. One important thing to remember in a rogue deck is that you wont always be having a fast paced win, you have to set up for it. One deck that is perfect at this is PIPER CHAOS, personally one of my favourite decks but also a clever one. As the whole Piper engine revolves around setting up.

Not only this but Fortune Lady Light is a level 1, so this engine works perfectly with the deck.

3 Mystic Piper < Draw
3 Battle fader < stall and saves you from OTK's
1 Effect Veiler < Control + tuner
1 Glow up bulb < Synchro

So right now in the deck we have 9 cards based on control and 5 for drawing and 6 for special summoning. Its looking good.

Now for the win condition. In this deck we have have 2 as most of the monsters are light and dark Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning can be integrated and other common chaos cards like Chaos Sorcerer.
Not only this but another way is another forgotten card usually associated with "Future Visions"



But you can also in this deck have a few more options to abuse this and LIGHT and also allow for easier synchro summoning

GENEX ALLY BIRDMAN can lift these back to the hand for further use then synchro for a synchro of you're choosing. Say you lift light and summon water with her effect then summon birdman. You can then synchro for a level 7 monster like


A rarely used synchro monster that has the ROGUE FACTOR!!! AS you're opponent will not expect it.

With this done we have room for 2 "tech cards" these can be in this deck either "DOOM CALIBUR KNIGHT" "THunder king Rai-oh" or "Maxx C" depending on what you prefer you decide, I personally used Thunder king for this deck. as the search isn't so high.

Now that we have our monster line up the deck is starting to come together.

IN part 2 I shall take you through spells and traps. Then in part 3 Extra deck and The finally side. Moving onto your first game and climbing up the ranks on duelling network with you're rogue deck.

I'll see you next time.