[qc@fengyuan.com] Subject: Thoughts... -Pegasus Hello again. I really couldn't think of a single cohesive subject to talk about, so I'm going to ramble about various things throughout this tip. Labyrinth of Nightmare and Joey/Pegasus Starters. According to many, this has been the most anticipated set to date. Frankly, when I think of this set I immediately of three things: Dark Necrofear, Sacrifice-sealing Mask, and the "upgrading" of Bazoo and Kycoo. Dark Necrofear because it was the most anticipated card in this set (to collectors) until the Secret Rares were revealed. Sacrifice-sealing Mask because it is, IMHO, the single most influential card in the set, and Bazoo and Kycoo because this is the first incidence I've heard where the actual effect of an English card was different from that of its Japanese counterpart (Lord of D. is not the first; it was a misinterpretation of the text rather than a change in the effect itself, and the reprint has the correct text). I'm not sure whether this will be corrected or not. I think people are overobsessing about finding combos with LON and the Joey and Pegasus starters. Honestly, there's only a few new cards in the starters and I've known of their existence for months. Gryphon Wing, Graceful Charity, Scapegoat, yada yada yada... people seem hell-bent on trying to find new combos with these cards. I think they're overobsessing. I don't doubt that these are strong cards (along with all those LON cards people keep trying to make combos out of), but... it just seems that people are either trying to find a fun deck or desperately searching for something besides a beatdown. If you want my opinion, the most influential new card in Joey/Pegasus is Graceful Charity, not Scapegoat. Graceful Charity makes for an excellent discarding card for use in reanimation decks, and while Scapegoat has many powerful combos (among them the one with United We Stand), all they do is either stall or do a significant portion of damage. I feel, however, that GC is simply better. (Does anyone know if it's been semi-restricted yet? It's semi-restricted in Japanese) "Fun" vs. "Winning." There seems to be a lot of debate over whether the point of Yu-Gi-Oh is to make a strong deck and win or to have fun with a fun deck. I think it's really a personal matter. Did YOU start playing Yu-Gi-Oh because you wanted to have fun, because you wanted power over others who play Yu-Gi-Oh, or because you secretly imagine you're a TV character? Personally, I started playing as a way to harness my strategic mind. Yu-Gi-Oh involves a lot of strategy, and I'm much more familiar with it than Magic, so I decided to start playing. It's up to you: Do YOU want to win or have fun? Or somehow do both? Fun. You know what's fun in Yu-Gi-Oh? Fun is watching your opponent pump up a Maha Vailo and flipping a Magic Cylinder. Fun is summoning a Flash Assailant, waiting for the opponent to attack, and flipping a Reverse Trap. Fun is letting your opponent attack you directly with a Jinzo, then fusing a Twin-headed Thunder Dragon from your hand to blast it away. (God, I sound like a politician...) Fun is attacking directly with 3 Nimble momongas and 2 giant germs, and watching your opponent's LP seep away. Fun is flipping 2-3 heads with a Barrel Dragon several times in a row. Fun is watching your opponent play a Scapegoat, attack your Cyber Jar, and realize that Scapegoat's effect makes it so that Cyber Jar's effect doesn't allow your opponent to summon any monsters from the 5 cards... they're discarded (betcha didn't know that ;). Fun is drawing all five pieces of Exodia on the first turn (as incredibly unlikely as that is: in a 40-card deck, the probability is 6 in 40*39*38*37*36, or 76,767,600, given a starting hand of 6 cards). Hee hee. Trust me, this is fun. There are a lot of other fun things to do in Yu-Gi-Oh. Attacking numbly with several Gemini Elves and Bazoos every turn isn't really one of them. Winning. Here I speak of winning without having fun. Like the attacking with Elves and Bazoos. Like the mindless use of a Clown Control deck. Like the pointless (currently Japanese-only) first-turn kill combos... of which there are three that I know of, to date. These are all too fast to possibly be fun. Underrated cards. Obviously, cards that IMHO are not getting the attention they deserve. These are in no particular order. 1. Imperial Order: Yes, it's seeing a lot of use, but in the wrong way. Too many people use it as a free Magic Jammer, and they're not exploiting the true power of it. I am telling y'all to exploit the true power of it. 2. Light of Intervention: I realize that people would probably rather use Royal Command in today's environment, but Light of Intervention has an advantage. It takes the guesswork out of attacking enemy monsters. Too bad it makes Nobleman of Crossout nearly useless. 3. Twin-headed Thunder Dragon: Honestly! Drawing only one Thunder Dragon and one Poly or a Fusion Gate, I can special summon a 2800-ATK monster in one turn. What's so bad about that? This card was SOOO underrated by Yonex and co. during their review of it. I don't care if Magic Jammer screws it up; Magic Jammer screws up everything involving a magic card. That's why I consider Magic Jammer a staple. I don't understand why the reviewers called it a "two-turn twin-headed thunder dragon." If my understanding of the rules of Yu-Gi-Oh is correct (which it is, of course), monsters can be fused from your hand. So isn't it a one-turn summon (and a special summon at that)? 4. Reverse Trap: This is deadlier by far than the Emperor's Holiday. This chained with Magic Cylinder (is that even legal? Do the damage THEN reverse the ATK bonus?) is one of the nastiest combos in the game, having the potential to kill your opponent in a single turn (Maha + Scapegoat + UWS vs. GAF + Magic Cylinder + Reverse Trap = if the chain works, 6050 damage then 2300 more damage). I think the combo works. They're both normal traps, so they're the same spell speed, so they can be chained in any order. It can also be comboed with cool cards like Flash Assailant and Zombyra the Dark... 5. Collected Power: I've never really tested this card, but it has incredible combo possibility. Like using your opponent's equips on your own monsters. Heh. Also, equipping Premature Burial/CotH on an opponent's monster, and then using MST. Not only does it get rid of the burial/CotH from your monster, it destroys one of your opponent's monsters! This card is also pretty cool comboed with a Japanese Promo called Bequeathed Mask. Face-down Attack Position. I've been curious about this for a while. If a monster in face-down attack attacks, it's flipped face-up right? And if it's being attacked, it's also flipped. Aww, now I've run out of things to say. Oh well. -Pegasus