 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||
| Pojo's Yu-Gi-Oh! news, tips, strategies and more! | |||||
|
|
|||||
 |
|||||
 |
|||||
|
Card Game Featured Writers Releases + Spoilers Anime Video Games Other
Magic
This Space |
 |
Snype's Haxfactory
All About the Hands
NEW BEGINNINGS
Welcome everyone to my first article as a Pojo featured
writer! Many of you may be familiar with the name SNYPE from
the Pojo Yu-Gi-Oh! Forums and others may have heard of my
YouTube channel thehaxfactory. If you aren’t familiar with
either that is okay, but in that case I’ll give you a brief
introduction before getting into the meat of this article.
A little over 10 years ago when I was still new to
competitive Yu-Gi-Oh!, I came across a site by the name of
Pojo. During that time, I would lurk on the main page and
read articles by the early greats such as: Jae Kim (JaeLove)
and Evan Vargas (sandtrap). It was their articles that
inspired me in my early years as a competitive player.
Of course, things have changed quite a bit since then. I
became a much better player and a judge with over a decade
of competitive experience under my belt. I was drawn into
the YugiTuber movement where I could share the things I’ve
learned directly with other players. Now things have come
full circle, I am finally able to carry on the torch of
those people that I looked up to years ago and provide a new
generation with content.
HOW HANDS HAVE AFFECTED THE META
At this moment in the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG, Fire Hand and Ice Hand
are present nearly everywhere you look. They have spawned
discussion after discussion on the forums and even a month
after release many players still do not know how to approach
the Hands. I cannot discredit those that would say that the
Hands have had an affect on the game, though I personally do
not believe that they have had a harmful affect.
Players are finally learning how to play around the Hands
and it has led to a pretty unique situation in Yu-Gi-Oh!.
For the first time in as long as I can remember, people are
being forced to play their monsters in defense mode in order
A PARADIGM SHIFT IN YU-GI-OH!
Many people seem to think that everything changed with the
release of the Hands. However, this shift actually began
months before with the release of Number 101: Silent Honor
ARK. The threat of having your special summoned monster
stolen with a Silent Honor ARK was already great enough to
make some people consider the battle position of their
monsters for fear of being punished. The Hands are merely an
extension of that same paradigm shift.
Essentially, what I am trying to say is that Hands have
added an additional layer of skill to the game that was
technically always present but rarely required utilization
until recently.
HOW TO PLAY AROUND THE HANDS
Unless you are prepared for the Hands, it is quite possible
that they could single-handedly defeat you. The most
important way to prepare for the Hands is to know how to
play around them effectively. Strangely enough, a valid
option to play around the Hands is to wall them out with a
monster with high defense and wait for a better answer. In
fact, Traptrix Hands’ inability to play around Geargiarmor
is typically credited as the main reason why Geargia had so
much success at YCS Philadelphia.
This has quickly lead to Maestroke the Symphony Djinn once
again becoming one of my favorite rank 4 options. In a
standard rank 4 extra deck there is only one reasonable out
to Maestroke and that would be Blackship of Corn. If you are
able to protect Maestroke from Blackship, it is quite
possible that he will sit on the field in defense position
for the entire duration of the game.
One thing to consider is that the variant of Traptrix Hands
that does not use Artifacts plays a Neo-Spacian Grand Mole
in the main deck, so that will be another viable out to
Maestroke.
That being said, once you have set up your wall your
opponent will be forced to answer it. This moves you into
what I call the Wiretap battle.
THE WIRETAP BATTLE
During this point of the game,
An interesting note about the mirror match is that it is
quite possible that both players will end up sitting on
Hands as their defenders, which will make the majority of
the mirror match a Wiretap battle.
This portion of the game may get a little boring to some
people, but don’t play sloppily during the Wiretap battle,
the winner here may end up sealing the deal and taking that
game.
COMMON OUTS TO THE HANDS
As long as you are playing against the Hands properly and
you have a decent number of outs in your main deck and extra
deck you should rarely see more than one or two Hands
activate in any given match. My favorite outs will be listed
below:
-Dimensional Prison/Memory of an Adversary
Most decks should be running two copies of Dimensional
Prison during this format. Dimensional Prison has the
benefit of dealing with a lot of the hard to answer monsters
in the game right now. Though if your meta is particularly
Bujin heavy you may want to consider running Memory of an
Adversary instead due to the fact that it does not target.
-Macro Cosmos/Dimensional Fissure/Soul Drain
These cards are very good and several decks side these
cards, but it’s quite possible that your deck will not be
able to side these if they are too grave reliant which leads
me to the next two cards.
-Debunk
This is a counter trap that stops cards from activating in
the Hand or graveyard. It has a lot of very good uses
against a lot of
-Different Dimension Ground
Different Dimension Ground is a chainable one turn
Dimensional Fissure. Due to the nature of this card you can
actually run it in graveyard reliant decks. Shadolls have
already started siding this card in the OCG because it is
essentially a blow out card in the mirror match. Unlike
Debunk, Different Dimension Ground will last for the whole
turn, basically shutting off all grave reliant plays for
that turn.
-Nobleman of Crossout
Often times you can easily end a Wiretap battle with a
single Nobleman of Crossout. Nobleman banishes set Hands,
while also managing to be relevant in a lot of other common
match ups like Geargia. It is a highly suggested side deck
card.
-Mind Control
This card can be even more effective in the Wiretap battle
than even Nobleman allowing you to steal a Hand and go
straight into a rank 4. Honestly, if you can make use of
level 4 monsters, I would probably main deck this card.
-Soul Taker
Soul Taker can make the Hands miss timing, but because of
how slow the Wiretap battle can be and the fact that Hands
are often set, there may be better options than this.
-Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter
Ryko can also make the Hands miss timing, but unlike Soul
Taker it can hit set monsters. Ryko isn’t a terrible option
considering how slow the Wiretap battle can be.
-Abyss Dweller
This has been a popular rank 4 option since it was released,
though it is probably more important now than it has ever
been. This card is the main focus of most Wiretap battles
and should be run at two in the decks that can make it.
-Number 50: Blackship of Corn
Due to the fact that this card sends a monster to the grave
without destroying it, it is a solid out to Hands as well as
many other durable threats (such as Maestroke and 101). I’m
actually considering bumping this card to two copies in my
own deck because of how relevant it is in the match up.
-Evigishki Merrowgeist
This is a really uncommon option for rank 4 but still a
fairly decent one. Merrowgeist shuffles any monster it
destroys in battle back into the deck instead of sending it
to the graveyard. This will prevent any of the Hands from
activating, though it’s reliance on battle ensures that
Blackship is still the better card.
-Armades, Keeper of Boundaries
Armades prevents the activation of effects through the end
of damage step which prevents the Hands from activating at
all. Unlike Merrowgeist this card cannot be hit by your
opponent’s Dimensional Prisons meaning it’s reliance on
battle is not as much of a problem.
CONCLUSION
My goal is to make certain that every person that reads this
article in its entirety will feel comfortable playing
against the Hands the next time they see them. The Hand
match up is very winnable but it can seem quite impossible
if you do not know how to play around them. Just remember,
defense position is safe and avoid being punished at all
costs. Of course, nothing can ever beat your own testing. If
you are having problems get a group of friends together and
test. Even a couple of hours of testing can make a
difference in how you play.
If you liked this article keep checking back as I plan on
writing one article a week. You can also find me on YouTube
at:
http://www.youtube.com/user/thehaxfactory. Have a nice
week everyone and good luck!
|
|||
|
Copyright© 1998-2014 pojo.com This site is not sponsored, endorsed, or otherwise affiliated with any of the companies or products featured on this site. This is not an Official Site. |
|||||
important
match ups, but it will only stop one effect meaning that
this may not be as relevant when Shadolls arrive in August.