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FanatikMonk on Yu-Gi-Oh!
After the Ban
August 21, 2006

Well if you didn’t read my ban list predictions, suffice to say, “I called it, kinda.”  I like this ban list, it shows that upper deck is thinking again and is genuinely listening to our concerns.  I once stated that the purpose of the ban list should be to inspire creativity and give all deck types an equal chance, and I definitely see that being accomplished in this new list.  While my suggestions may have provided an indirect end to chaos, this provides a startling change to the meta.  To save for boring you to pieces and discussing what happened, because you were there as much as I was, I’ll tell you about what happens now, beyond the ban (part 2).
 

In one of my first articles, I stated that change happens marginally, and it’s definitely true.  The holdovers from the chaos era will be with us long through the next six months.  The impact that cards such as Zaborg, Blade Knight, Shining Angel and Airknight Parshath have made will be hard-healing and take months to clear years worth of damage out of our meta.  What we’ll see now is a regression to conservative play, with flips becoming dominant players in the meta.  We won’t look to cards to provide basic hand advantage, but to protect and manage our fields.  That being said, Dekoichi and Merchant will have a limited life span in the new Meta, but Apprentice magician and searchers like Giant Rat (and I say that purposely) will find solace in the new list.

So where are we going?  Well, where have we been.  Last time we had our “Chaos is over” scare, we dove right into the warrior trend.  That being said we’re going in a similar direction, only with greater emphasis on newly discovered cards.  Two Exiled Force’s supports the warrior trend, but further gains can be made by fusing it with Monarch/Frog control.  For the next month after the ban, many decks will take on this look:

Monsters (22)

Mobius the Frost Monarch/Jinzo x 1

Zaborg the Thunder Monarch x 2

Treeborn Frog x 1

Sangan x 1

Breaker the Magical Warrior x 1

Mystic Swordsman Lv2 x 1

Exiled Force x 2

D.D. Warrior Lady x 1

D. D. Assailant x 1

Don Zaloog x 2

Night Assailant x 1

Mystic Tomato x 2

Spirit Reaper x 1

Cyber-Stein x 1

Magician of Faith x 1

Nimble Momonga x 3

            The spell and trap line ups will feature the 10 staple cards of the Meta (Graceful, MST, Storm, Nobleman of Crossout, Premature Burial, Call of The Haunted, Mirror Force, Torrential Tribute, Ring of Destruction and half of Book of Moon and Confiscation) plus 2 Rush Recklessly and 2 Enemy Controllers.  The importance of those quick-play spells is the ability to switch from a defensive to offensive position quickly with just one card’s use.
 

            From this point CC will slide into being able to access that offensive-defensive switch more quickly.  Themes such as earth, zombie and machine (yea, gadgets) will emerge as tier 1.  Anti-meta decks will feature multiple deck devastation viruses (go back and look at the 6 monsters in that deck that will be unaffected by DDV and tell me that isn’t scary) and a lot of RFG strategies (bazoo is back, and gigantes will be here to back him this time.)  In short, expect a lot.
 

            OTK decks got punched in the face when Trunade was semi limited.  While it doesn’t hurt a huge amount it does make their job a little bit harder.  While extra trunades may have been used to cycle swords of revealing light, Future Fusion, Steelcage or G-Binds, now they’ll be conserved to finish the combo.  While OTK decks are still very much alive, they’re hindered to the waiting game expectant of all others now.  Chimeratech OverDragon is a force to be reckoned with and those 4 extra slots sin the deck have been replaced by 2 magical merchants and 2 magical mallets.  Lots of magic, right?  Cyber-Stein OTK is as deadly as it ever was and takes a sliver more skill to pull off now.
 

            So, what about your side deck?  Well I can’t make any big suggestions for you but I can tell you what I’m doing.  I’m currently running a Chimeratech deck, Macro Cosmos, Deck Devastation and Spellcasters.  My spellcaster deck’s side deck is as follows:

Kuriboh x 2

Anti-Spell Fragrance x 3

Waboku x 3

Giant Trunade x 2

Cesefire x 1

Wave Motion Cannon x 2

Magical Dimension x 1

Time Wizard x 1

Notice that only two cards are there for the advancement of my own strategy.  The Meta is now so diverse that new tactics need to be developed to stop new strategies.  Anti-Spell Fragrance shuts Chimeratech down completely.  The power of an OTK deck is to be able to play a large combo in one turn and my fragrance eliminates that possibility.  The small amount of burn is for all of the failed deck types out there.  You’ll see enough crazy ideas to fill a barrel and if they take too long to set up, punish your opponent for wasting your time.  Game 2 WMC are as dangerous as they are wonderful.  Side decks have always been important but they’ll now be the deciding factor between complete failure and marginal success.  You have no chance of getting anywhere without a good side deck.  Where 0 side deck participants making Top 32 at a regional happened occasionally, it will not happen in this new format, especially not for the first 3 months.
 

My last piece of advice, is to experiment.  Experiment like a mad scientist on an illegal substance.  Go crazy.  Pull out a random card from your tin and build a deck with it.  Play your friends with crazy cards like Mushroom Man #2 and Turtle Tiger and see if there are ways that you can pull advantage from them.  Go to big tournaments with new decks.  Get people thinking and start now.  This is a golden age for going nuts with new deck types and it won’t last long.  We’ve all got about 10 weeks before the Meta is solid, and during this time we need to get as many new ideas out as possible.

Cards I’m testing (maybe you should too):

Dark Dust Spirit

Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys

Legendary Jujitsu master

Staunch Defender

Time Wizard

Spatial Collapse

Destiny Hero Dasher

Destiny Hero Fear Monger

Reasoning

Dark Magician of Chaos

Aliens (all of them except the sucky ones [hunter, skull, crop circles, orbital bombardment)

Chaos Greed and Chaos End

Ancient Gear Beast

Reflect Bounder

            Anyway, do things your own way, but get pumped for a new Meta that will actually be a new Meta.  Happy dueling!

FanatikMonk

Clayton_Nelson@Brown.edu