Yesterday I posted a deck list for my Tengu Plant deck and did not yet complete a side deck. So I thought I would post a side deck just to clarify the most important step in competitive Yugioh; which is side decking.
Side decking will really depend on the current meta of where you are playing. At a modern day YCS expect to see a lot of Six Samurai, Gravekeepers, X-Sabers, and LIGHT Gemini builds floating around, but there are always those decks that are on the rise or there decks that yield the surprise factor. When building a side deck you really need to have a great idea of the metagame and how each tier 1 deck will play on average. For example, Six Samurai could open with a first turn Shi En and/or drop multiple Six Samurai United's or a Gateway of the Six etc.. Or the LIGHT Gemini deck will summon an Alius into a defensive set up assuring a even or plus one situation. Basically, you really need to map out a deck's play style and find out what cards will be most effective against these plays and what cards will be most effective against a variety of decks.
Without any further introduction here is my side deck then I will explain my choices and what they work against.
Side Deck: 15
2 Thunder King Rai-Oh
2 Kinetic Soldier
1 Effect Veiler
1 Cyber Dragon
2 D.D Crow
1 Nobleman of Crossout
2 Prohibition
2 Royal Decree
2 Pulling the Rug
Now I will explain my card choices:
Thunder King Rai-Oh: This card is the MVP of this format, 1900 beater, disrupts the commonly played Pot of Duality and searchers like Gravekeeper's Recruiter and XX-Saber Darksoul. Opening with Thunder King Rai-Oh and backrow is one of the most solid first turn plays today. Thunder King Rai-Oh has a great match up against most high tier decks like Gravekeepers and Six Samurai. Thunder King is also LIGHT, fuelling Chaos Sorcerer and Thunder King will slow the tempo down in order for me to draw into a consistent hand I can work with.
Kinetic Soldier: I side this card for the Samurai and Gemini matchup due to the ability to climb over problem monsters like Shi En and Gemini's brigade of warrior monsters. Samurai and Heros really on field presence provided by their warrior monsters like Shi En and Alius. Eliminating these threats before a well timed Gemini Spark or Samurai swarm will be crucial in the match up against these decks.
Effect Veiler: I main one Effect Veiler due to the amount of effects occurring on the board in today's metagame. Effect Veiler is a great tuner when in a jam so you can access Formula Synchron or whatever it may be. Also Veiler is LIGHT for chaos food. But the side decked Veiler is for the decks that have that crucial monsters that will turn the board in their favour. Veiler is perfect for stopping that Kageki, Boggart Knight, or Gravekeeper's Descendant even Elemental Hero Stratos! As you can see these monsters will provide the ample advantage for these decks. And stopping it as soon as possible will help a lot.
Cyber Dragon: So by now you get the LIGHT concept, so I will shut up about it (Chaos Sorcerer is boss but he isn't the big picture. Cyber Dragon is a great against a multitude of decks such as Geminis, Gravekeepers, Gladiator Beasts and Machina. Against these decks, Cyber Dragon will rival your opponents beaters while baiting out resources. And he wont eat up your normal summon, so it is a great card to turn to especially second turn!
D.D Crow: One of my favourite cards is D.D Crow, due to the difficulty of stopping him from going off. Well however, there is Debunk from Extreme Victory and the obscure effect negation but other than that he is amazing. D.D Crow is very disruptive and will cause cards like Pot of Avarice and Monster Reborn to fizzle out, due to the fact they cannot reselect a target and you have removed the original target. D.D Crow is more for those graveyard oriented decks but he will really help out against the odd deck utilizing cards like Treeborn Frog.
Nobleman of Crossout: This card seems to be on the verge of "staple" status due to the rise of face down monsters being utilized in a decks strategy. You will usually use this card to get rid of the cards that will aid your opponent in the early game. Hitting that Spy or Snowman Eater will definitely steer the game in your favour.
Prohibition: Prohibition is essentially a mini-side deck. It has that sweet ability to lock down key cards, of YOUR choice! That choice is very crucial, calling the right card at the right time will allow you to control the tempo of the game and allow you to make your plays with ease, (especially aggressive combo plays). And when worst comes to worst, Prohibition can be that bluff/MST bait when your really screwed.
Royal Decree: This card is definitely an example of smoke-screening or in better words changing my strategy. When I side in Decree I will usually change up the spell and trap line up to play a more aggressive game with ease against decks that rely on multiple backrow. In a more situational sense, Royal Decree can act as a single turn push card when going into Scrap Dragon, like you see in Scrap decks running Decree.
Pulling the Rug: This card had its days in the Monarch era, and was even main decked at times. But now I use this card for more than Monarchs, I will stop those key cards which rely on the normal summon to accelerate their turn (Kageki, Boggart Knight, Stratos). It will also serve its older use of stopping those pesky Monarchs, more specifically the ever popular Caius.
So this concludes my Side Deck Discussion for Tengu Plants! See you later!
-Eric
Monday, 2 May 2011
Sunday, 1 May 2011
Tengu Plants Explained
So today I went to the Extreme Victory Sneak Preview Event at my local hobby store. I managed to pick up some cards that I wanted to get including 3 of the Reborn Tengu.
Reborn Tengu is the new monster in Extreme Victory that can be obtained as an Ultra Rare for participating in the Sneak Preview or as a Super Rare in the booster pack. Information on the card can be seen through this link:
http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Reborn_Tengu
Out of boredom and inspiration I was thinking of a synchroesque deck to abuse this card. I thought of utilizing the card in a deck using 3 Symbol of Heritage kind of as a fun way to bring out Tengu, but then I thought a bit more seriously about abusing the card in a semi-competitive deck.
What I ended up building, as seen in the blog's title is a plant synchro deck using 3 Reborn Tengu. Plant synchro decks can usually synchro summon with tuners such as Spore and Glow-Up Bulb. More recent plant decks have been using Debris Dragon and Junk Synchron for synchro summons.
Before I go into further detail I will show the deck list:
Monsters: 25
3 Reborn Tengu
2 Lonefire Blossom
1 Dandylion
1 Glow-Up Bulb
1 Spore
2 Card Trooper
2 Debris Dragon
1 Effect Veiler
2 Caius, the Shadow Monarch
3 Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter
2 Chaos Sorcerer
2 Junk Synchron
2 Doppelwarrior
Spells: 9
1 Giant Trunade
1 Dark Hole
1 Monster Reborn
1 Enemy Controller
2 Pot of Avarice
1 Charge of the Light Brigade
1 Foolish Burial
1 One for One
Traps: 8
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Limit Reverse
1 Malevolent Catastrophe
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Trap Stun
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Solemn Warning
Extra Deck: 15
1 Shooting Star Dragon
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Colossal Fighter
2 Stardust Dragon
2 Black Rose Dragon
1 Iron Chain Dragon
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Frozen Fitzgerald
1 Magical Android
1 Junk Warrior
2 Formula Synchron
1 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon
My side deck is in progress.
(Also note I do not have Trishula or Hyper Librarian currently)
So that is the deck list as you can see, and now I will explain some choices in the monster line up.
Reborn Tengu: This card is the core of the deck, a very versatile card. Reborn Tengu is probably one of the best floaters in the game now; 1700 body, decent level for synchro material, and once he hits the field any type of removal will result in another Reborn Tengu being brought to the field! So essentially simple one for one removal on Tengu will result in a minus! Tengu will also slow the battle phase down bringing out multiple cards. The main reason he is in this deck is to allow me to control the board by aiding synchro summons and serving as fodder for cards like Pot of Avarice and Caius, the Shadow Monarch.
Plant Engine: For people new to this engine, it is pretty basic. Lonefire Blossom will fuel the graveyard for cards like Debris Dragon and allow your plant monsters to be brought out quickly. Lonefire can enable combo plays in order to synchro summon with your plant tuners such as Spore and Glow-Up Bulb. To summarize, this engine allows ease of synchro summoning and control.
Trooper/Ryko aka your "milling": These cards will serve as your set up cards in the early game. They will help put cards such as Dandylion, Doppelwarrior, Glow-Up Bulb in the grave yard so you can set up your Debris Dragon and Junk Synchron plays easier. Aside from setting up the grave yard, these cards have other utilities. Card Trooper is a great 1900 beater which can rival popular cards like Thunder King Rai-Oh and when it is destroyed and sent to the grave yard it draws me card. Card Trooper dodges Bottomless Trap Hole (this isn't too important now with Solemn Warning) and is able to manipulate your opponents resources such as Dimensional Prison when they don't want it on the field. Ryko serves a great form of removal and a card which can slow the game's tempo down by dealing with problem cards such as Thunder King Rai-Oh or a face up Necrovalley. Ryko is a light attribute which is essential to the position of Chaos Sorcerer.
Junk/Doppel/Debris aka "combo plays": These cards allow for combo plays resulting in synchro summons. Junk Synchron will give you access to a wide variety of synchros, which are usually level 5. More importantly in a format with Dimensional Prison on the rise, Junk Synchron gives you access to Frozen Fitzgerald which will stop cards like that in its tracks. Debris Dragon allows me to destroy cards on the field by accessing Black Rose Dragon and using Dandylion as synchro material, which results in those precious tokens. Debris will also help me get Stardust Dragon so that I can push and battle the upcoming Dark Hole. Doppelwarrior serves as synchro material and combos with cards that special summon from the grave yard, like Junk Synchron and Debris Dragon. Doppelwarrior also results in tokens when it is used as a synchro summon material monster. These tokens be used as synchro/tribute fodder also.
Caius/Chaos Sorcerer aka your control cards: Caius and Chaos Sorcerer are amazing this format, they are great with dealing with popular cards like Card Trooper, Stardust Dragon, and Shi En. Caius used to be at one in my original Plant build, but I bumped him to two since Reborn Tengu is great tribute fodder and cards like Glow-Up Bulb, Spore, Dandylion and Doppelwarrior will also aid in summoning him. What is not to love about Caius' 2400 attack power and removal abilities (plus 1000 burn if you remove a dark monster). Chaos Sorcerer serves as a pseudo-Caius and is very accessible due to multiple Ryko and the lone copy of Effect Veiler. Chaos Sorcerer will help manipulate resources such as Solemn Warning and deal with those pesky problem cards. And he doesn't eat up your normal summon!
So that is it for explaining the monsters. The monster line up looks very bulky with 25 monsters but is very consistent with the ability to set up and control the board early game. This deck is very aggressive but it cannot be forgotten that it maintains a vital control element which helps greatly against decks like Six Samurai.
I will explain the Spells and Traps in one swift blow as most of them are very staple-ish and do not require much explanation to the moderately experienced Yugioh player.
Enemy Controller: Aside from the standard Plant deck spell line up, Enemy Controller will stick out now due to my choice not to put in Book of Moon. Book of Moon was a great card at three don't get me wrong. But the lone copy with it's one function of flipping face-down didn't cut it for me and I was looking for more versatility. Enemy Controller definitely provides that versatility by being able to act as a Brain Control; I am able to tribute monsters like Reborn Tengu and Dandylion, this allows me to set up synchro summons and tributes to control my opponents field but also benefit my side of the board with that extra Tengu or tokens. The only time I would prefer Book of Moon is in the X-Saber or Six Samurai match-up where stopping that Hyunlei or Shi En is crucial to you winning the duel. So in hindsight, perhaps Book of Moon can serve as a side deck card for that match up, or an extra Effect Veiler can shake things up as well.
Malevolent Catastrophe & Trap Stun: These are my only forms of back row control that are trap cards. Malevolent Catastrophe has been seeing a lot of play currently as a substitute for Heavy and has been doing great. This card be unexpected at times and just turn the game around against a lot of decks especially control decks. But sadly as unexpected as this card can be it is very expected at times and I will explain why. First off, this card is a normal trap card so it isn't too hard to stop with Trap Stun or Seven Tools of the Bandit or even Shi En. But mainly, this card is SUPER easy to read; your opponent will sense that if they wait and not attack at some point and they know your decks general idea, that it can be face down. And ultimately, it will be lost to some sort S/T removal. A bad player will usual attack into Malevolent so you can be too confident with this card, but it yields mass removal which can be worth the risk of deck space. Trap Stun has seen more play especially with the limit of Book of Moon. I usually like to use Trap Stun to allow a key attack go through or stop that problem trap card. But mainly I will use Trap Stun at the beginning of my turn to attempt a huge push with Black Rose Dragon or a combo play.
This concludes my explanation of the deck, I will be sure to post about the results of playing this deck in weeks to come. I hope whoever has read this enjoyed this post!
Reborn Tengu is the new monster in Extreme Victory that can be obtained as an Ultra Rare for participating in the Sneak Preview or as a Super Rare in the booster pack. Information on the card can be seen through this link:
http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Reborn_Tengu
Out of boredom and inspiration I was thinking of a synchroesque deck to abuse this card. I thought of utilizing the card in a deck using 3 Symbol of Heritage kind of as a fun way to bring out Tengu, but then I thought a bit more seriously about abusing the card in a semi-competitive deck.
What I ended up building, as seen in the blog's title is a plant synchro deck using 3 Reborn Tengu. Plant synchro decks can usually synchro summon with tuners such as Spore and Glow-Up Bulb. More recent plant decks have been using Debris Dragon and Junk Synchron for synchro summons.
Before I go into further detail I will show the deck list:
Monsters: 25
3 Reborn Tengu
2 Lonefire Blossom
1 Dandylion
1 Glow-Up Bulb
1 Spore
2 Card Trooper
2 Debris Dragon
1 Effect Veiler
2 Caius, the Shadow Monarch
3 Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter
2 Chaos Sorcerer
2 Junk Synchron
2 Doppelwarrior
Spells: 9
1 Giant Trunade
1 Dark Hole
1 Monster Reborn
1 Enemy Controller
2 Pot of Avarice
1 Charge of the Light Brigade
1 Foolish Burial
1 One for One
Traps: 8
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Limit Reverse
1 Malevolent Catastrophe
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Trap Stun
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Solemn Warning
Extra Deck: 15
1 Shooting Star Dragon
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Colossal Fighter
2 Stardust Dragon
2 Black Rose Dragon
1 Iron Chain Dragon
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Frozen Fitzgerald
1 Magical Android
1 Junk Warrior
2 Formula Synchron
1 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon
My side deck is in progress.
(Also note I do not have Trishula or Hyper Librarian currently)
So that is the deck list as you can see, and now I will explain some choices in the monster line up.
Reborn Tengu: This card is the core of the deck, a very versatile card. Reborn Tengu is probably one of the best floaters in the game now; 1700 body, decent level for synchro material, and once he hits the field any type of removal will result in another Reborn Tengu being brought to the field! So essentially simple one for one removal on Tengu will result in a minus! Tengu will also slow the battle phase down bringing out multiple cards. The main reason he is in this deck is to allow me to control the board by aiding synchro summons and serving as fodder for cards like Pot of Avarice and Caius, the Shadow Monarch.
Plant Engine: For people new to this engine, it is pretty basic. Lonefire Blossom will fuel the graveyard for cards like Debris Dragon and allow your plant monsters to be brought out quickly. Lonefire can enable combo plays in order to synchro summon with your plant tuners such as Spore and Glow-Up Bulb. To summarize, this engine allows ease of synchro summoning and control.
Trooper/Ryko aka your "milling": These cards will serve as your set up cards in the early game. They will help put cards such as Dandylion, Doppelwarrior, Glow-Up Bulb in the grave yard so you can set up your Debris Dragon and Junk Synchron plays easier. Aside from setting up the grave yard, these cards have other utilities. Card Trooper is a great 1900 beater which can rival popular cards like Thunder King Rai-Oh and when it is destroyed and sent to the grave yard it draws me card. Card Trooper dodges Bottomless Trap Hole (this isn't too important now with Solemn Warning) and is able to manipulate your opponents resources such as Dimensional Prison when they don't want it on the field. Ryko serves a great form of removal and a card which can slow the game's tempo down by dealing with problem cards such as Thunder King Rai-Oh or a face up Necrovalley. Ryko is a light attribute which is essential to the position of Chaos Sorcerer.
Junk/Doppel/Debris aka "combo plays": These cards allow for combo plays resulting in synchro summons. Junk Synchron will give you access to a wide variety of synchros, which are usually level 5. More importantly in a format with Dimensional Prison on the rise, Junk Synchron gives you access to Frozen Fitzgerald which will stop cards like that in its tracks. Debris Dragon allows me to destroy cards on the field by accessing Black Rose Dragon and using Dandylion as synchro material, which results in those precious tokens. Debris will also help me get Stardust Dragon so that I can push and battle the upcoming Dark Hole. Doppelwarrior serves as synchro material and combos with cards that special summon from the grave yard, like Junk Synchron and Debris Dragon. Doppelwarrior also results in tokens when it is used as a synchro summon material monster. These tokens be used as synchro/tribute fodder also.
Caius/Chaos Sorcerer aka your control cards: Caius and Chaos Sorcerer are amazing this format, they are great with dealing with popular cards like Card Trooper, Stardust Dragon, and Shi En. Caius used to be at one in my original Plant build, but I bumped him to two since Reborn Tengu is great tribute fodder and cards like Glow-Up Bulb, Spore, Dandylion and Doppelwarrior will also aid in summoning him. What is not to love about Caius' 2400 attack power and removal abilities (plus 1000 burn if you remove a dark monster). Chaos Sorcerer serves as a pseudo-Caius and is very accessible due to multiple Ryko and the lone copy of Effect Veiler. Chaos Sorcerer will help manipulate resources such as Solemn Warning and deal with those pesky problem cards. And he doesn't eat up your normal summon!
So that is it for explaining the monsters. The monster line up looks very bulky with 25 monsters but is very consistent with the ability to set up and control the board early game. This deck is very aggressive but it cannot be forgotten that it maintains a vital control element which helps greatly against decks like Six Samurai.
I will explain the Spells and Traps in one swift blow as most of them are very staple-ish and do not require much explanation to the moderately experienced Yugioh player.
Enemy Controller: Aside from the standard Plant deck spell line up, Enemy Controller will stick out now due to my choice not to put in Book of Moon. Book of Moon was a great card at three don't get me wrong. But the lone copy with it's one function of flipping face-down didn't cut it for me and I was looking for more versatility. Enemy Controller definitely provides that versatility by being able to act as a Brain Control; I am able to tribute monsters like Reborn Tengu and Dandylion, this allows me to set up synchro summons and tributes to control my opponents field but also benefit my side of the board with that extra Tengu or tokens. The only time I would prefer Book of Moon is in the X-Saber or Six Samurai match-up where stopping that Hyunlei or Shi En is crucial to you winning the duel. So in hindsight, perhaps Book of Moon can serve as a side deck card for that match up, or an extra Effect Veiler can shake things up as well.
Malevolent Catastrophe & Trap Stun: These are my only forms of back row control that are trap cards. Malevolent Catastrophe has been seeing a lot of play currently as a substitute for Heavy and has been doing great. This card be unexpected at times and just turn the game around against a lot of decks especially control decks. But sadly as unexpected as this card can be it is very expected at times and I will explain why. First off, this card is a normal trap card so it isn't too hard to stop with Trap Stun or Seven Tools of the Bandit or even Shi En. But mainly, this card is SUPER easy to read; your opponent will sense that if they wait and not attack at some point and they know your decks general idea, that it can be face down. And ultimately, it will be lost to some sort S/T removal. A bad player will usual attack into Malevolent so you can be too confident with this card, but it yields mass removal which can be worth the risk of deck space. Trap Stun has seen more play especially with the limit of Book of Moon. I usually like to use Trap Stun to allow a key attack go through or stop that problem trap card. But mainly I will use Trap Stun at the beginning of my turn to attempt a huge push with Black Rose Dragon or a combo play.
This concludes my explanation of the deck, I will be sure to post about the results of playing this deck in weeks to come. I hope whoever has read this enjoyed this post!
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