Inside the box

Fade to Black

2010-03-16T22:04:00.000-07:00

Current Deck
Fade to Black: A Variant of Dimensional Fader

3x Battle Fader
1x Gorz Emissary of Darkness
2x Light and Darkness Dragon
1x Chaos Sorcerer
1x Sangan
2x Cyber Valley
2x Dimensional Alchemist
2x Dandylion
2x Caius The Shadow Monarch
1x Thestalos the Firestorm
1x Treeborn Frog
3x Flamvell Firedog
2x Flamvell Magician

2x Rekindling
2x Soul Exchange
1x Brain Control
1x Mind Control
1x heavy Storm
1x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Allure of Darkness
1x One for One
1x Foolish Burial
1x Enemy Controller

1x Mirror Force
1x Torrential Tribute
1x Raigeki Break
2x Bottomless Traphole

Posting for Personal Reference
Not sure why my picture isn't loading.

New layout. Nice simple style.

2009-12-15T19:59:00.000-08:00

Changed the layout of my blog a bit to freshen things up.

All of it was done by ||Foolishbox||.

Thanks.

Shining Darkness Spoilers

2009-12-15T19:03:00.001-08:00

ohhh snap

Hand less format next format

ohhh snap

not really
way too much infernity support... damn

Starlight Road Versus Royal Oppression

2009-12-14T11:47:00.001-08:00

Official OCG rulings state that Royal Oppression can negate the special summoning effect of Starlight Road which in turn negates the entirety of the card. That means no negation and no Stardust for you Rainbow Road.

Looks like Blackwings get an out to Starlight Road. Royal Oppression has the ability to negate anything that has the potential to special summon outside of the damage step.

Japanese source
http://yugioh-wiki.net/index.php?cmd=read&page=%A1%D4%A5%B9%A5%BF%A1%BC%A5%E9%A5%A4%A5%C8%A1%A6%A5%ED%A1%BC%A5%C9%A1%D5&word=DDY2

Here's some rough translations
Q: Did you chain this card to the imposition of "suppression of the royal palace," Can I invoke?
A: Yes, you can invoke. At that time, "Star light load" is disabled and the effects of corruption.

Also you can activate Starlight Road even if you don't have a Stardust in your Extra deck.

These are official OCG rulings and I'd be very surprised if this turns out to be one of the few cases where we'll get different rulings for a card. I'm looking at you Prisma.

In my opinion Starlight Road won't be making a big impact on the TCG meta. Even with the rampant destruction; it's still far too situational. It's quite an amazing card but to say it's meta changing is taking it too far.

Well actually I'm going to proxy it a bit against my blackwing deck to see how often it'll come up against the big 3 + Icarus. Guaranteed though that it'll have little to no effect on Lightsworns.

Yugioh Virtual Dueling and Blade & Soul

2009-12-02T13:42:00.000-08:00

So I got YVD up and running and I think we should really start using this to sort of play test with new decks. I'm still not used to the system and it seems pretty clunky (How the hell do I use whirlwind?). It's still better than nothing though.

So Jimmy or Victor, just send me a message on msn if you feel like helping me out with this business.

Also on an unrelated note, a new (a couple weeks old) Blade and Soul trailer is out. Looks amazing and hopefully isn't a complete failure like most of NCSoft's MMOs.

Force Master here I come.

Here's the new trailer.
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/north-american-blade-soul/59533

Blackwing - Blizzard the Far North and Black Whirlwind fun.

2009-11-30T01:23:00.000-08:00

Vayu's best friend isn't Sirocco.

I assume everyone's heard of Blizzard's combo ability with Whirlwind to dodge card effects like Divine Wrath, Gladiator beast's War Chariot and Royal oppression. Now for those who haven't; let me break it down here.

Blizzard and Whirlwind have optional effects that if used together; their effects will try to activate at the same time. Now as the turn player, you can choose which effect goes first, essentially giving you two spots on the response chain. Putting Whirlwind in chain link 2 and Blizzard's effect in chain link 1 will protect your Blizzard's special summoning effect from cards like Oppression and Chariot. "Why?" you ask? Well because those cards have to be directly chained to the effect of Blizzard, but with Whirlwind taking up chain link 2, the opponent is shut out from chaining to Blizzards effect.

Chain link 1: Blizzard's effect <- (Chain link 1 & 2 activate at the same time and you get to choose the link order)
Chain link 2: Black Whirlwind <- (This is where Royal Oppression should be to negate Blizzard's special summoning effect)
Imaginary Chain link 3: Royal Oppression (since it's not directly chained to Blizzard's effect it will not work or even let you activate it.)

If you still don't understand then I apologize. I'm not very good at explaining these things.

Now for some more confusion with Whirlwind, Blizzard and general game mechanics.

Most people have heard of the earlier abuse of game mechanic but some actually haven't yet heard that by reversing the order you want to resolve the chain, you can have the monster you special summon with Blizzard dodge cards like Bottomless Trap Hole and Torrential Tribute.

I've actually forgotten about this little tidbit since it's really only helpful in VERY few situations but looking over my deck prompted me to remember it and post about it. I've never been able to use this in a real duel but I still think it's worth posting about.

In this combo, you exploit the chain so that you close off your opponent from the"summon response window" of whatever monster you decide to special summon with Blizzard.

Opponent has a set bottomless trap hole
Turn player successfully summons Blizzard and activates effects as such
Chain link 1: Black Whirlwind
Chain link 2: Blizzard the Far North special summoning effect targeting Bora

Resolving backwards, Bora is summoned first and then Black Whirlwind's effect is applied and is also the last thing to resolve. Since Bora's summon was not the last thing to resolve, then there can be no "response window" to his special summon.

In that scenario the opponent could respond with a Torrential Tribute in Blizzard's summon response window. Resolving backwards Torrential destroys Blizzard; Bora is summoned due to blizzard's effect and then whirlwind fizzles due to having no attack reference. So in the end you're left with a defense position Bora.

This is a lot harder to explain than I thought.
To fully grasp the concept you'd have to look at headache inducing guides to "summon response window"; the difference between "responding" and "chaining" and to a lesser extent "summon negation window" and priority.

Well here's an example of where you can use this info.

You read that your Opponent has a set bottomless trap hole
Turn player successfully summons Blizzard and activates effects as such
Chain link 1: Black Whirlwind
Chain link 2: Blizzard the Far North special summoning effect targeting Bora

Since they can't respond to Bora's summon you are free to synchro for a monster. Ideally you'd bring out Brionac, retain priority and pitch that Vayu you just brought to your hand using whirlwind's effect and bounce a monster (hopefully a synchro) your opponent controls.

Though I guess a lot of players would actually hold off with their bottomless anyway and wait for a synchro, or at least something more threatening than a defense position Bora. But with this info you can make sure that they NEVER bottomless your Bora and keep you from synchroing. Also you can keep your Blizzard and the monster he special summoned, from BOTH being destroyed by Torrential Tribute. Since the opponent can only respond to Blizzard's summon; and if he chooses to wait for Bora you could totally rule shark their ass.

I have a few more examples but this is getting a little long and I'm starting to veer off.

I'm sure there are other sites that can explain this concept far better than I can because frankly, I'm a terrible teacher. This post was my attempt at adding substance to my blog.

Changes to deck, Book of Moon, the Semicolon and I'm not good at keeping things short.

2009-11-27T22:06:00.000-08:00

So right now I'm testing Gorz, Trunade and Solemn Judgment.I'm side decking the D.D. Crow and my 2x Book of Moon.

Solemn Judgment I think is a card that I should have had in this deck from the very beginning. Solemn was my MVP during the DSF format (ironically enough) and even at 1 I think I'll still be able to win games with it.

Now Gorz is something most people would not run in Blackwings but I'm going to give him a try AGAIN. The field presence he creates when he's summoned is really too good to pass up. Often times when I drop him I can continually push with him without committing any other cards to the field. If they want to use Icarus, Mirror or Lightning vortex on it then it's fine, it puts me in a good position.

Of course the problem arises when your deck mains 5 continuous spell/trap cards on top of the potential dead backrow cards (Icarus and to a lesser extent BTH, but it rarely happens). Which is where my next card choice comes in.

Giant Trunade will provide for me safer Whirlwind plays and hits. I can use it to clear my backrow for my Gorz (Of course I'm not going to intentionally -1 myself just for that purpose). It'll also help me play around my Oppressions so I can synchro a little easier with Gale/Blizzard and my Dark Armed drops aren't threatened.

Overall I don't think I'm sacrificing too much to put these cards in play. D.D. Crow was a very situational card which I mostly ended up using as Icarus fodder. It's really better off as a side deck card.

Book of Moon, the swiss army knife of the game is not doing so hot in this format. Yes, you can use it to stop Whirlwind/Chariot plays; avoid Kalut and Honest drops but in the end, the threat persists. The chariot remains, the monster is still on the field, and Honest/Kalut is still in hand. Zombies basically laugh in your face with their endless floaters. I'm not saying that Book of moon is costing me games but I do think it's no longer a card that can be considered a staple (if it ever was).

Despite what I say about it, I probably will go back to using Book of moons. It's just so damn versatile. Maybe I'll replace my mbaas for one.

I don't use 3x Blizzard because first turn blizzards suck, though I'm not going to knock a blackwing player if they decide to run 3. Just putting that out there.

Also, I really need to make better (correct) use of the semicolon!

My decklist - Default Blackwings

2009-11-26T20:56:00.000-08:00

Monsters: 19

Dark Armed Dragon x1
Sirrocco the Dawn x3
Shura the Blue Flame x3
Bora the Spear x3
Kalut the Moon Shadow x3
Blizzard the Far North x2
Vayu the Emblem of Honor x2
Gale the Whirlwind x1
D.D. Crow x1

Spells: 11

Black Whirlwind x3
Allure of Darkness x2
Book of Moon x2
Heavy Storm x1
Mystical Space Typhoon x1
Brain Control x1
My Body as a Shield x1

Traps: 10

Icarus Attack x3
Bottomless Trap Hole x2
Torrential Tribute x1
Trap Dustshoot x1
Mirror Force x1
Royal Oppression x2

As you can see it's fairly standard. I've play tested using Morphing jar and I found that it had me playing around it too much, which slowed me down or caused me to make bad plays. It did lead me to wins quite a few times but I think I'll let it sit out for now.

I may try maining double Kycoos just for extra bodies in my monster lineup but it might disrupt the flow of the deck like my Dark Grephers did. As the deck is right now, I run into too many situations where I'll draw an all spell hand or spell/weenie monsters which gives me a very slow start.

I might also ditch My Body as a Shield for Giant Trunade for safer hits and plays with whirlwind. (Though I guess My Body as a Shield provides the same amount of defense)

Konami please make a new blackwing monster with an 1800 body. I'd even settle for a 1900 vanilla monster like the Gladiators have.

I'll be waiting for it in Shining Darkness.

Selling on EBay. It's been a long, long time coming.

2009-11-24T20:23:00.000-08:00

So ever since I pulled a 1st Ed Secret Heraklinos (which at the time was worth 120 dollars on EBay), I've always had this urge to sell cards on EBay.

Today, I finally made an honest effort to that cause and put up my first item. I am excited but at the same time anxious. I wait for the day that I sell an item for 70 dollars and lose both the money and the item to a dishonest buyer.

I will wait for that day. Patiently.

Also I'll post my deck list soon.

Cards for trade.

2009-11-23T14:41:00.000-08:00

This probably won't work but I'll give it a go anyway.
This is mostly intended for Team Metronome so if anyone else somehow runs into this then it's best if you just skip over.

Up for trade is

Dark Grepher (Super)
Mist Wurm
Brionac Dragon of the Ice Boundary x2
Burial from a Different Dimension (rare, cp version)
Krebons (Tu01 Super)
Plaguespreader Zombie (Ultimate non 1st ed)
Arcanite Magician (1st ed)
Blackwing -Vayu Emblem of Honor (1st ed ultra)

Looking for

Catastor
Lyla x2
Lumina x3 (rare)
Ehren
Celestia
and lol Judgment Dragon
Armed Wing

Also looking for but not as much

Dark Armed Dragon
SOVR secrets
Brionac
Dark Grepher (supers mostly)
Allure of Darkness (super)
Good commons, Foolish Burial, Trade in etc

Also have Six sam, Gemini stuff if anyone's interested. Some extra synchros save Goyo. I'd post the random holos we have but that would be a little tedious.

So there you have it. Jimmy, Victor; Make some trades for me and I'll drop by early Sundays to drop off cards if this actually works out. I'm trying to help Marlon build a lightsworn deck here.

It's a Yugioh day.

2009-11-23T00:50:00.000-08:00

Ran standard Blackwings (2x Vayu, 2x Opp and a mained Crow) at MythGames today. Here's a short summary of what went down.

Went 4-1 against:

Exodia Stacker

Round 1: He stalls for several turns taking in the minuses while I poke him to death with Shura and Vayu.
Round 2: He sets 2 cards face down. I heavy and OTK on my turn. His next card was the last piece of Exodia.

He stacked well but I just stack better.

Fish Synchro

Round 1: Fish Synchro eats 3 Kaluts for 3 turns feeding my shura. I hit directly in between feeding him Kalut. Quick win.
Round 2: I whittle down his cards with triple icarus pitching 2 vayu's and sirocco. Exploded on the field after a few turns, using blizzard and beater armed wing while he had no outs.

Gigavise

Round 1: Bottomless stops his gigaplant combos and a set MST messes up a Mark of the Rose play. I win after pitching a Vayu for Brionac to bounce a Cyber Valley.
Round 2: Cyber Valleys up the rear. He Brain Controls and tributes into Cyber Valley to draw two cards. Proceeds to do it again with Mark of the Rose and summons a third cyber valley.

Unfortunately for him I had a Book of Moon, Bora had a Spear and Sirocco had a pump.

Zombie with a lone Mezuki tech because he's pro like that.

Round 1: Necro Gardnas are annoying. Pushed with an Armed Wing and a Shura for several turns while he spammed Necro Gardna but luckily, not much else. Made enough pokes to win.
Round 2: I side into my third Oppression, my 2nd DD Crow and 2 Kycoos. My Kycoos keeps his Necro Gardna spam in check as well as that beastly Mezuki tech. I take the win. He did manage to blow away my oppression and Kycco at one point but I had a 2nd copy of both in hand.

Top 4

Gigavise (Same one from earlier. For anyone curious it's the Mystic Tomato version, not the janky UfoTurtle/Blazewing/Arms Hole version)

Round 1: Shura and Bora feeds off of set Nettles, Copy Plant and Mystic Tomatos. Gained enough pluses to win.
Round 2: After a few exchanges I end up with an Armor Master and a set Oppression. He has 2 cards in hand. On his turn he reveals Brain Control. I take a loss.
Round 3: Drops DAD and pulls off the perfect Supervis combo. He ends up with 2 Powertool Dragons, DAD, Gigaplant and Black Brudrago. I had a Bora and a face up Whirlwind. Scoop Phase for me.

I only received one Turbo Pack and pulled a Satellite Cannon. 1st, 2nd and 3d place all pull supers and Doom Calibers. A single tear rolled down my cheek.

Overall not a bad day thanks to some big trades.

Lost: Armed Wing x2, Dark Grepher (super) x2 and some spare holos.

Gained: Armor Master (1st edition Ultimate. I'll be getting your Armor Master back to you soon Victor), 2x Koaki Meiru Drago, 2x Brionac, Burial from the DD and Super Krebons. Also got Raiza, Earthbound Uru and some other holos.

So yeah, not bad, not bad for my last day to play at a tournament before I take a short leave for my back surgery. Last Sunday was a bit better with me getting 1st and pulling a Super Whirlwind (Thanks credited to Jimmy) on top of trading card sleeves and 10 dollars for a Brionac.

I'll be back at Myth Games most likely after Christmas with Charge of the Light Brigade in hand. Then maybe our little circle can get some match videos up on our Youtube channel. Also planning to start selling cards on EBay but I've been pretty slow going in regards to that.

This is getting a little long winded so I'll cut it for now. I'll post a bit more later on because frankly, this whole blogging business is actually pretty addicting.

Fun stuff.

With nothing better to do.

2009-11-22T23:24:00.000-08:00

Let's try and get this going.