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Satisfaction on Yugioh

The Metagame Tested and Determined
By Lance Leonhardt a.k.a. Satisfaction
April 17, 2006

Intro

The new April 1^st Metagame has challenged a lot of duelists the past weeks and gave a lot of questions even after Shonen Jump Baltimore. As many cards and decks got the boot there were many welcomed into the supposed “Metagame”.

I am going to give you a report on a local tourney testing out my answer and threat for the Metagame, later on in the article. Right now discussing about the Metagame is hard but previous tourneys and Shonen Jump Baltimore will help me decide.

The Metagame

Looking at the past weeks the Metagame seems to be a controlled game. Which means the players are often between the fast tempo build, such as a Return from the Different Dimension or the slow tempo build, such as Flip Flop Control.

 It has been a varied Metagame with possibilities still at bay. After Shonen Jump Baltimore the fast tempo won this challenge but that doesn’t mean it has declared the Metagame. This topic will be more open at the end.

Day 1: Preparation

Surprising Tactics

With the Metagame very blurry I decide to begin with a Cyber Stein side deck. The plan is to win the first game and than side the Cyber Stein build to hopefully win the second. Unexpected this can work effectively. But with the April 1^st Ban List it gives problems.

Cyber Stein has lost many copies of important cards such as Limiter Removal and Last Will. But because of Graceful Charity we get an extreme boost of speed. Also a risk I will take is leaving the Magical Merchants from the main deck in to access my needed Magic cards. Also a great add is Big Shield Guardna, providing great defensive against almost any monster and targeting Magic cards. It is a great counter against Dark World consisting not only Nobleman of Crossouts but also Dark World Lightning. Draining Shield is my only trap served to give me extra life and time. I find that Last Will is to situational by only running one.

The Side Deck 15x:

3x Cyber Stein

2x Big Shield Guardna

2x Cannon Soldier

1x Limiter Removal

2x Giant Trunade

2x Megamorph

3x Draining Shield

Successful Choices

The Deck I plan to start with is a Chaos Build that utilizes Deck Devastation Virus. My Chaos build will use things that get at least a card advantage before I tribute it for Deck Devastation Virus. So Chaos Sorcerer and Blowback Dragon are great for this part. I will use at least two Magical Merchants for Lights and speed to possibly get a lot of Lights and Darks in the graveyard. Magician of Faith is needed for sure, a great Light that you can’t go with out. Thunder Dragons will fuel up Chaos Sorcerer and make three of Chaos really work. Spirit Reapers are too good to forget, are Darks, and my only hand advantage option.  

Now the hard part is deciding to use either Gravekeeper’s Spy or Apprentice Magicians with Old Vindictive Magicians. Both may be too much but it also may be what the deck needs. As Tsukuyomi may be nice there is just no room for it in the deck. Magic cards will look very simple except for a Metamorphosis using it with Magical Merchant, Magician of Faith, Scapegoats, Chaos Sorcerer, Blowback Dragon and so on. Traps will look a little different than normal. Three Bottomless Traphole for Mobius and other Monarch threats. Two Deck Devastation Virus will be used to the full extent.

Day 2: Testing and Challenging the Metagame

I will be testing the strategy from Day 1 in the tourney at Collector’s Paradise. The second best store I consider to be the best in tech, the Metagame, skill, and size. Many of these players find good decks and tech that try to overwhelm others. Lets take a look and see a player’s choice before the tourney.

Deck Profile: Daniel Collens

Daniel is a member of Team Dynasty, a new and upcoming team hoping to challenge the Metagame. Daniel shows me his fast tempo deck with tributes that gain a lot of field presence. With the right draws and the right play this deck can make a difference in the Metagame. “ I use two Chaos Sorcerers to help eliminate the field and gain advantage. Jinzo helps create my aggressive side in the deck. “ “I use the negative effect of Dark Magician of Chaos to gain field presence again with it when I use Return from the Different Dimension” says Daniel. I’m sure that it will catch a lot of people off guard.

Daniel Collens’ Fast Tempo Deck:

1x Dark Magician of Chaos

2x Chaos Sorcerer

1x Jinzo

1x Zaborg the Thunder Monarch

1x Breaker the Magical Warrior

1x Treeborn Frog

1x Sangan

1x Tsukuyomi

1x Apprentice Magician

1x Old Vindictive Magician

2x Magician of Faith

2x Magical Merchant

1x Skelengel

1x Dekoichi

1x D.D. Warrior Lady

1x Blade Knight

1x Premature Burial

1x Mystical Space Typhoon

1x Snatch Steal

1x Graceful Charity

1x Heavy Storm

2x Enemy Controller

2x Nobleman of Crossout

1x Pot of Avarice

1x Book of Moon

1x Scapegoat

1x Metamorphosis

1x Torrential Tribute

1x Mirror Force

1x Call of the Haunted

1x Spell Shield Type-8

2x Dust Tornado

2x Bottomless Trap Hole

1x Return From the Different Dimension (was in German!)

Round 1

Wasn’t all that spectacular, I played an inexperienced player.

Feature Match: Round 2

Matthew Murphy a.k.a. Coin Flip VS. Anton Perez

 As I am paired down to Daniel Collens (beaten by a top deck in Round 1), he scoops to me so I could try to feature a good pair that could give a good picture of their idea of the Metagame. A good pair? An amazing pair, Anton Perez representing Team Dynasty and our very own Coin Flip!

Anton begins by setting two facedown magic or traps. Coin Flip begins with an opening Breaker The Magical Warrior, but Anton chained Book of Moon. Coin Flip sets Snatch Steal, the only magic or trap in his hand. Sacred Crane is summoned from Anton Perez and attacks Breaker. Coin Flip sets Treeborn Frog and passes. Dust Tornado from Anton destroys Snatch Steal. The Sacred Crane attacks into Treeborn Frog. Treeborn comes back to the field in defense. Coin Flip sets D.D. Warrior Lady. Smashing Ground destroys the Sacred Crane. Anton begins with a Premature Burial to bring back Sacred Crane getting him a card; Pitch Black Werewolf joins the onslaught to only get stopped by D.D. Warrior Lady. Coin Flip sets Dust Tornado and quickly destroys the Pitch Black with another Smashing Ground. Anton summons the Chaos Sorcerer now with a Dark in the graveyard to remove D.D. Warrior Lady, the Crane attacks for 1600.

Coin Flip destroys the set Sakuretsu Armor with Dust Tornado. Treeborn is brought out to only be tributed for Mobius the Frost Monarch and Coin Flip attacks Chaos for 100.

Anton brings out his second Chaos Sorcerer to remove Mobius, attacks with Sacred Crane. Life Totals are calculated as 7100 Anton and 4900 Coin Flip from their calculators, both players agreed and the duel went on. Coin Flip decides to play Graceful Charity now, discarding two Spirit Reapers. Coin Flip plays Snatch Steal to take Chaos Sorcerer to remove the Crane from the game. Tsukuyomi flips the Chaos face down. Coin Flip has Magician of Faith face down. Anton sets his Dekoichi and Bottomless Traphole. Dekoichi is destroyed a turn later by Chaos and the Tsukuyomi attacks for 1100 after flipping Magician of Faith down.  Anton sets two spell and trap cards and summons D.D. Warrior Lady without an attack and with no cards in hand. Anton has three facedowns now with a face up D.D. Warrior Lady. Coin Flip seems to have this game with his possibilities because of card advantage. Coin Flip flips Magician of Faith to get Graceful Charity. Chaos Sorcerer removes the D.D. Warrior Lady from the game and Tsukuyomi comes down to flip Chaos down and up again. But this time Anton had a response, Bottomless Traphole to remove his Chaos Sorcerer that was abused by Coin Flip. Tsukuyomi and Magician of Faith do a little bit of damage before ending the turn. Anton summons his Sacred Crane to attack the Magician of Faith. With no response from Coin Flip he plays Return from the Different Dimension! He brings back two Sacred Cranes, two Chaos Sorcerer, and a D.D. Warrior Lady for game. Dazzled by Anton’s risky and a little lucky play, Coin Flip had to give that game away for it was game.

After about twenty minutes into the round Coin Flip decides to Side Deck. Royal Decrees and Wave-Motion Cannons came in to stop or damage the tempo of Anton’s deck. With no seen Mobius the Frost Monarch from Anton it could be the perfect choice.

Coin flip opens with two sets, a monster and magic. Anton heats up this game immediately with Mystical the Space Typhoon, Cyber Dragon, and than Exiled Force for a good 2100 damage. Coin Flip sets Torrential Tribute and Royal Decree in the back rank while a good set from Spirit Reaper will end his turn. Anton overplays with a summon of Pitch Black Werewolf and a Premature Burial for Exiled Force, of course Coin Flip uses Torrential Tribute to wipe out the field. Coin Flip sets Call of the Haunted on his turn and passes. Anton comes down with an unexpected Sacred Crane for only 1600, but doing a lot damage is hurting Coin Flip’s game. Coin Flip plays Call of the Haunted to only tribute for a Mobius to take out the Sacred Crane. Anton plays Lightning Vortex to discard Sacred Crane from his hand to destroy Mobius the Frost Monarch, showing a not so good hand. Coin Flip sets his Mirror Force and passes without a summon. Mirror Force destroys D.D. Warrior Lady from Anton. Coin Flip later on in the duel sets Magician of Faith to get destroyed by another Sacred Crane. Matthew now sets two traps to have three in his back rank. As Anton is about risks, he summons Breaker the Magical Warrior to destroy a facedown Royal Decree, than special summoning Chaos Sorcerer to attack Coin Flip for game. Coin Flip reveals his triple Royal Decree to show his horrible draws against the rush from Anton. With a Sacred Crane Deck on the rampage of undefeated wins shows us an unexpected side of maybe the new Metagame.

Round 3

I believe I played a player by the name of Armand that is proving his worth by beating some of the best players here. As I thought this would be a good test of the deck’s strategy I went head on into battle. As I can’t give specifics the deck worked great creating card advantage with Deck Devastation Virus and Chaos Sorcerer. The second game I sided into Cyber Stein. He wasn’t prepared for it as I won after a couple draws.

Round 4

I play my sister, Kalyne Leonhardt that has done incredibly well with a very fast tempo Warrior deck. This is almost the same as Long Beach Shonen Jump as she surprised Wilson Luc and other players with her risky and deadly moves. Losing one game and winning the next two was the outcome. As her offensive moves sometimes were too much for me, I could regain my advantage and control with Chaos Sorcerer. I slip by into finals.

Impressed: Round 5 Finals

As I am impressed with how good the deck is doing I take my place in front of Steve Aragon. Again as I don’t have specifics, the game was back and forth in control of the game. I deck out my first game by drawing to many cards and waiting to long to make offensive pressure. I win the second game very quickly. The third game came to my card advantage of tributes to Steve Aragon’s top decking. In other words we were both top decking. The advantage seemed like mine but with the right cards turn after turn Steve became the victor.

After Thought

The aspect of Cyber Stein as a surprise tactic worked out very well, as the main deck would need to be fixed for better and more consistent draws. My thoughts of the Metagame changed after I experienced the tech and consistent deck ideas. The most popular card today was Chaos Sorcerer seeing almost multiple plays in many decks. As I tested and confirmed that Deck Devastation Virus should change the Metagame or create it. As Mobius the Frost Monarch was not played as much because of the increasing play of three Bottomless Trapholes. This article should change the way you look at cards and think how useful they can be.

If you have any ideas, comments, or concerns about the Metagame or about this article you can contact Satisfaction by email at knightstour@earthlink.net .

If you would like to reach Collector’s Paradise you can call them by phone at

(818) 999 -9455.