February 2008
Cards/Decks on the
Rise/Fall III (By Master Tricks)
What's up fellow pojo fan-reader duelists,
it's me Master Tricks here again and I have
awaken from the deep, sleepy "Hibernation"
during the past month. What the italics on the
Hibernation mean is that we were all waiting
endlessly for the release of Phantom Darkness
packs as well as the new Jaden Yuki 3 and Jesse
Anderson packs. Unfortunately, we grew tired of
waiting and fell into a deep "Sleep" between
Christmas and the beginning of February as we
made some different deck ideas to keep ourselves
slightly "Awake" and interested. Thanks to the
release of Phantom Darkness, the Jaden Yuki
3/Jesse Anderson duelist packs, the grand future
release of the "Dark Emperor" structure deck,
and the new ban list that will head our way next
month, I can finally write something worth
reading and more efficient than any other
article I have written. But first things first.
Note from Master Tricks:
In case
anyone is still wondering about the survey about
your opinions on the next ban list, I have
decided to cancel it and not write an article
about it due to the fact that only a few fellow
duelists, approximately 4, have submitted their
ideas about the next ban list to me. This survey
was about which card you most want to be banned,
limited, semi-limited, and unrestricted/unbanned
on the next ban list. I thought that this was
going to be a fun, efficient, and interesting
idea and survey, but apparently I have not
received enough readers about my article.
Hopefully the pojo crew will allow me to become
a featured writer on the website and permit me
to finally receive some recognition about my
articles. Thank you to those who participated in
the survey and I hope you fellow duelists will
continue to read my articles and participate in
such surveys and interesting ideas I have to
offer to you guys. Many Thanks!
The Falling Cards/Decks:
With my note to your readers out of the way,
let's begin the Falling Cards/Decks section
with...
- Apprentice Magician Engine
- The cards that consisted of the Apprentice
Magician Engine included Apprentice Magician
itself, Crystal Seer, Old Vindictive Magician,
and our beloved Magician of Faith which I'll
talk about on the next number. Because of the
recent successes and victories of the new and
improved version of Macro Cosmos Monarchs at
Shonen Jump Championships, Apprentice Magician
drastically was ignored by many duelists who are
part of the metagame. Crystal Seer and Old
Vindictive Magician with Apprentice Magicians
seem to not be fast enough as Macro Monarchs and
doesn't seem to be worth our time as it use to
be. The Apprentice Magician Engine is not even
that well in classic Monarchs and the Sacred
Phoenix Deck. Apprentice Magician's ability to
search for a level 2 or lower Spellcaster from
your deck and special summon face-down onto your
field when it is destroyed as a result of a
battle is okay, but these monsters are extremely
low on ATK/DEF and high amount of damage and ATK
is what we really need in our current and future
metagame format.
- Magician of Faith - It is
sad to say this, but truly I do not see this
card seeing much play anymore and could only
prove useful in a limited amount of decks that
constantly use spells. This card is vulnerable
in many ways since it can be easily destroyed by
Nobleman of Crossout, Shield Crush, Mystic
Swordsman Lv.2, and many higher ATK monsters.
Being able to search for a spell in your
graveyard is great, but it is a terrible card to
have during your first few turns of the duel and
just slows the duel down unless it searches for
cards like Lightning Vortex and Heavy Storm.
- Trap Dustshoot - I have
only seen this card once in a duel and this duel
happened during last October. Trap Dustshoot
requires a certain timing which is only when
your opponent has 4 or more cards in their hand.
It's good to have during the first few turns of
the duel, but doesn't perform as well during
late game. This card doesn't benefit you too
much besides hand control, but hand control
isn't a big issue in our current format so this
card should only be placed in the Sidedeck and
nowhere else.
The Rising Cards/Decks;
There wasn't too many cards on the Falling
list, but most of you will not be surprised at
how large the Rising List is thanks to the
release of Phantom Darkness and the latest
Duelist Packs. Let's kick things off with...
- Dark Armed Dragon - No
doubt that this card should belong in the Rising
List as its price shows off Dark Armed Dragon's
godly, lethal ability and massive strength in
the current metagame. This card was reviewed on
the Card of the Day section, but I want to
explain it again since it is really good. This
card is a Level-7 Dark Dragon with a killer 2800
ATK/1000 DEF who cannot be normal summoned or
set and can only be special summoned from your
hand only when there are exactly 3 Dark
monsters in your graveyard. Dark Armed Dragon
allows you to remove a Dark monster in your
graveyard to destroy any one card on the field.
This is the best part of the card as you can use
this effect continuously. Really good card.
- Dark Creator - This card
is a a Level-8 Dark Thunder-Type monster with
2300 ATK/3000 DEF who cannot be normal summoned
or set and can only be special summoned when
there are 5 or more monsters in your graveyard.
This may take a while to pull this off, but it
is definitely worth it because of its main
effect that allows you to once per turn remove
a Dark monster from your graveyard to special
summon a Dark monster from your graveyard. The
first cards that come to mind to special summon
from the graveyard are D-Hero Disk Commander,
Dark Nepthys, Darklord Zerato, etc. You can even
combo with this by removing D.D. Scout Plane
with Dark Creator's effect OR you can remove a
powerful Dark monster such as Dark Magician of
Chaos or Darklord Zerato and use Escape from the
Dark Dimension to special summon it from
the Remove From Play zone. This card works with
Allure of Darkness and the popular Trade-In.
- Darklord Zerato - This card
is quite powerful since it boasts a mighty 2800
ATK/2300 DEF and can be tribute summoned with
only one monster if you have 4 or more Dark
monsters in your graveyard. Its second effect
makes it a whole lot better since it allows you
to discard a Dark monster from your graveyard to
destroy all of your opponent's monsters on the
field, which is a very nice price to pay, but
unfortunately our friend here is destroyed at
the end phase, but don't worry; this card's
second effect is used to clear the field and
finish off the opponent on that turn. This card
can be comboed with Allure of Darkness and
Trade-In. The best part about Darklord Zerato is
that it can be special summoned from anywhere,
which means you can use Reasoning, Monster Gate,
Escape from the Dark DImension, etc. to get it
out easily and finish the duel.
- Allure of Darkness/Beginning of the
End - These cards are great for any
Dark-Theme Deck as it gives you free cards into
your hand for very reasonable, great prices.
Allure of Darkness allows you to automatically
draw 2 cards and you must remove a Dark monster
in your hand at that moment from play or you
send your entire hand to the graveyard. Very
good card in this format. Beginning of the End
is a great late-game card since the requirements
for this card is that you need 7 or more Dark
monsters in your graveyard, you remove 5 of them
from play, and you get to draw 3 cards from your
deck. Both of these cards are excellent for any
Dark-based decks and will see a major rise in
prices.
- Dark Grepher/Armageddon Knight
- These cards are great Dark monster dumpers
since their main priority or specialty is
sending Dark monsters from your deck or hand to
the graveyard. Dark Grepher can be special
summoned from your hand by discarding a Level 5
or higher Dark Monster, and can dump a Dark
monster from your deck by discarding a Dark
monster from your hand. Armageddon Knight simply
sends any Dark Monster from your deck to the
graveyard when summoned. Simple as that. These
cards help out Fiends, Dark-Theme decks, and
Exodia.
- Dark Nepthys - This card is
meant to be special summoned, not tribute
summoned and its first effect helps this part
out easily. When there are 3 or more Dark
monsters in your graveyard, you can remove 2 of
them from play and send this guy to the
graveyard. During your next standby phase, you
can special summon it to the field and destroy a
Spell/Trap card on the field. You gain Dark
Nephtys' last effect anytime it's special
summoned from anywhere. This card is made
suitable for a Reasoning/Monster Gate deck or
Dark-Theme deck.
- Doomsday Horror, Dark Eruption,
Darknight Parsath, Shadowpriestess Ohm
- Made simply for Dark -Theme decks.
- Trade-In - People are
starting to play this card since they realize
the great potential this card obtains. You
discard a Level 8 monster to draw 2 cards. Great
exchange. Now there are many Level 8 monsters
that are really good such as Darklord Zerato,
Dark Nepthys, Light and Darkness Dragon, Dark
Magician of Chaos.
This shall be it for now and I am now
thinking of a good, stable deck to write about
on pojo.com so feel free to suggest any deck
ideas or submit your decklist for me to correct
and maybe even post on my next article. If you
have any questions, deck ideas, deck fixes,
tips, or anything else about Yugioh, contact my
magical Yugioh Kingdom at
pathoon@aol.com and I'll be glad to respond
to your e-mails. Thanks to all duelists and
happy dueling! :)
- Master Tricks, Lord of Trickery :)
