Dark Maltos

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Dark Maltos's Dueling Dome
Deep Impact
March 5, 2006

Hey guys im back for a bit from my dry spell. My last few articles haven’t been my best, which has really put a dampener on my idea flow, but I just thought I’d pop back and give you all my response to the new list as well as what I foresee for the future.

Before we look ahead, let’s look back over what has so recently come to pass. The last format was, in my eyes, the best we’ve ever had in terms of both fairness and ingenuity. No one had any real gripes about it , that was at least after Cyber Stein was banned. Generally though it was a very balanced format, with little emerging as truly dominant over anything else deck-wise. Lots of decks had a chance to prosper last format, and I found to my delight that essentially any deck could be run successfully last format, without one or two cards completely overpowering others. There was no nuisance card that screwed over everything else, nothing truly outstand over-the-top, although I know that not everyone was a huge fan of Ring Of Destruction. Personally I found it refreshing , I think Ring keeps everything inline and stops cards being potentially abused. Just look at the Return Format. That never would of happened back in the day because Ring was always there to keep card costs in line. With ring back that genre has all but died out. Remember when I said that , at the beginning of last format, that we were in for the age of machines? Well towards the end I think that was true, Chimeratech and Gadgets finally making an appearance. Overall, the Golden Format. The format that has replaced it is one that I’m not really as keen on.

The banning of Graceful Charity and the re-release of Snatch Steal is a definite mistake in my eyes. The lack of draw power outside of Pot of Avarice is a crippling blow to virtually every deck, whilst the addition of Snatch Steal is a crippling blow to any deck that faces it. Graceful has always proven to be a card that could possibly provide a window of opportunity in a top deck situation when you’re back’s up against a wall. Snatch has often been the card to put someone in an unfair situation such as that. That was my major disgruntlement with the new list, although upon deeper reflection I can understand the reasoning. Graceful’s ban will coincide with the release of upcoming Dark World monsters. It’s banning will serve as a good control for the Dark World genre and keep it stabilised. The Snatch problem isn’t all it appears either, but I’ll get to that later.

Victory Dragon’s appearance on the new list came as no concern to me, having never faced such a deck, but I can still see it as perfectly understandable. It’s a solid card with built in flaws in design that would just not support it’s use in our meta. Not really a heavy loss as far as we’re concerned.

Two bans that I’m sure caught all of us off guard was that of Breaker and Magician of Faith, two cards that have been with us in virtually every deck for far longer than most players have been playing. It was also essentially the final nail in the coffin for the very greatly-hard-done-by spell caster deck, who’s completive chances appear to have been slashed. Still, room for extra cards is never really a bad thing. Neither of the two deserved a banning really, as neither were ever broken, but the format moves on, and it’s nice they both bowed out together I think.

Last will’s banning was a great spot by the powers that be. The complete unrestricting of Exiled Force would have only given an already truly brilliant card yet another combo to use. I ran last will for the whole of last format to my recollection and it always proved to be a crucial card in every match, and I don’t even have any Don Zaloog‘s, so you can imagine the TRUE potential it had.

A fair few things got restricted this format, probably most noticeably Stratos, Chain Strike and overload fusion.

The killing of stratos shot out the very core of any competitive E/D Hero deck, but it doesn’t really matter. That guy would have been abused to hell in 3’s, like Gadgets on steroids.

Chain Strike was a real bummer for burn decks, another cruel blow delivered from above. They had it bad enough with the last two lists, but I suppose that as long as there’s potential for abuse anything’s got a chance of getting the chop.

Overload fusion on the other hand was a card that should have been restricted upon release anyway just because it makes Cyber Dragon / Gadget more simple that shooting fish in a really small barrel. Its not a heavy loss anyway, and stops abuse, that’s what it’s all about isn’t it?

Other card to get cut short were Crush Card, Giant Trunade and Neo-Spacian Grand Mole. Crush card has a good chance in my eyes as being mass -released this format in my eyes, but that could just be speculation. Trunade on the other hand is a powerful card that’s been around since the dawn of time, and just so happens to be one I’ve liked for a long while. Restricting it prevents abuse in the OTK variety. Grand mole had great potential to become very agitating in the next format, so that’s only for the good of us all really.

The Semi-limited cards certainly draw some attention themselves. Metamorphosis finally back to 2 allows for some fusion-fun, which is just what we need. Mask of Darkness never really broke anything here, so why not let him be at 2? There’s no harm in it as far as I can see, especially with all the face -down hate going around. The only thing that sort of got me was DDA’s reappearance . 2 is definitely worth considering, 1700 enough to handle most threats these days, and if not you take them with you anyway. Definitely a card to keep your eyes on anyway.

I think that it’s the unrestricting that really opened everyone’s eyes this list and made their jaws drop. Disregarding Upstart Goblin , a card that was never used really even in Exodia decks, 3 of the certainly better cards we’ve received found their way off the list completely.

I’ve already mentioned Exiled force but I think it’s worth expanding upon. He’s a solid form of removal and an extra one of him combined with 2 DDA’s gives toolbox a huge lift this format amongst other decks.

Joining him in complete unadulterated freedom is Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys. Nephthys is a monster I’ve ran over the last six months and fallen in love with. She’s certainly been very powerful , and like it or not she became the main focus of my deck and my principle win condition. If she was out I was generally in control, and even I was flabbergasted at her release. She’s very good to be in 3’s, although I think I can see why the big bosses have let us have her, but I’ll revisit that in a minute.

The final card off the list, and the one that’ll probably have the greatest deciding factor of duels this format is lily’s un banning, essentially making her the latest Stein. She does give spell casters a small redeeming bit of hope, but lets face it that’s not what she’s here for. I think that she’s the reason that we lost Last Will, combining her with Exiled and this in combination could easily prove fatal. Her strength though is only amplified this format though by the presence of Exiled Force and Snatch Steal. Between the two of them, Giant rat and maybe even the Gadgets a lot of players are in for a lot of hurt. Searchers are going to be big this format, mark my words.

This format is going to be a lot different and a lot more dangerous this format thanks to the release of certain cards and this new , aggro -list. The main proprietor to this will be a card we’ve been after since the very beginning , and one that until recently has been all but impossible to get - Shrink.

Within the next month of so, Shrink will be made available on a mass scale, and then everything will change, and we’ll be treated to a very much more cut throat dueling style. It should be fun. I’ll elaborate on the changes and what they’ll mean to us.

The first major change that players will HAVE to get used to will be a fall in trap count. The age of the quickplay spells has arrived. They’re faster, chainable and essentially unstoppable. Both Mobius AND Jinzo can do little to stop them, Magic Drain is a potential 50/50 and Solemn Judgement will NOT be worth it at all if you’re negating them because most can be run in triplicate anyway. Besides the obvious flaws in that a monster needs to be on the field in the first place for them to work, and the fact that they generally don’t directly destroy monsters , between them 3 Shrinks, 2 Enemy Controllers and lets face it a Limiter Removal should be enough for any opponent to contend with, and that’s before you’ve taken into account Scapegoat and Book of Moon. The smart players will take advantage of this straight away , which will naturally drop the limit of traps by about 3.

The second effect that this will have on our dueling style will be the inefficient ness of relying purely on attack power to win duels. Cyber Dragon will take a major hit this format with a natural rise in searchers, as well as the foreboding presence of lily. Still , he’ll find great use in the machine decks that are sure to crop up at the beginning of the format. Between the release of gadgets, the Zane pack and Cyber End dragon in the same SE pack as Shrink, UDE practically inviting us to play machines for a while. The Shrink issue will keep Phoenix in check, and would have killed her off otherwise. That’s why she’ll be in 3’s, and that’s why she should be very good this format but balanced, although remember that the Shrink thing works both ways.

Keep an eye out for powerful mini monsters. Don Zaloog and the for mentioned Searchers will be used to great effect this format, in particular Giant Rat. Between Exiled Force, Lily and the Gadgets, it’s not exactly short of a few target these days. Not to mention its comparatively enormous defense. Hopefully rat will shine.

Other cards will also have their time in the limelight, Hydrogeddon for instance. A very powerful and effective monster who’ll even more deadly monster in the 3 Phoenix Set -up.

Also, if Crush card is released to the masses this format, keep and eye out for fiends. With Shrink in their arsenal, Dark Jeroid, Giant Germ, and Dark Mimic they’ll have the meta owned. It’ll definitely be a tile race between Dark and earth this format if that does happen.

Time’s of change are upon us guys, and I for one will relish the challenge. That’s it for now. If you want to pop me a line then my address is

Dark__Maltos@msn.com

Have a good one guys !!!

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