Why I hate Pendulum Summoning

So, in quite a few previous posts, I’ve made it quite that I hate and despise Pendulums with a burning passion, and I build my Decks specifically to make Pendulum players cry as hard as possible. But I’ve never actually done a post, specifically on why I hate Pendulums, and I’m also going to give my counters to arguments that people use when I say that Pendulum Summoning is broken.

My hatred of Pendulums comes down to my purist nature. When the game first started, there were very clear rules on Special Summoning monsters. In general, you could only Special Summon two monsters at most at the same time, not because there was a limit, but because there weren’t any cards like Soul Charge or Return From the Different Dimension (Henceforth simply referred to as “Return”). They’d been seen in the anime, but hadn’t been printed in the TCG yet. In fact it wasn’t until Dragons of Legend in 2014 that we received Soul Charge, despite it appearing in the anime in Episode 176 all the way back in 2005 in the dub. We actually had Return in 2004, but it didn’t become widely accessible until 2008 in The Dark Emperor Structure Deck, after appearing in the movie Pyramid of Light in 2004. Those are the only two cards I can think of from that era that allowed you flood the field essentially at will. As we are now aware, Soul Charge is limited and Return is Banned. Why you might ask? Because Konami doesn’t like cards that allow you to flood the field at will. Well, at least they didn’t until some bright spark came up with Pendulum Summoning, a mechanic which allows you to flood the field at will. And I know you’re going to say: But Big Dub, what about the costs? But Big Dub, they were Banned and Limited because of game-breaking combos. Yes, I hear you guys. I think we can all agree that both cards were, and arguably still are, broken. As for the costs, bear with me. I’ll get to that.

Argument 1- “Pendulum Summoning isn’t broken, the monsters you summon are”

If I drop a glass and it shatters on the floor, am I responsible for breaking the glass, or is the floor? It’s the same logic. Saying that “Pendulum Summoning doesn’t break the game, the monsters do” is the same as me saying “I didn’t break the glass, the floor did” from a logic sense, or should I say nonsense? If the monsters you summon via Pendulum Summoning are broken, then Pendulum Summoning itself is broken, inherently.

Argument 2- “That’s not the same thing though” in response to Soul Charge are Return

This is a common one. Whenever I point out that Soul Charge and Return are Limited and Banned, Pendulum players always come out with “it’s not the same thing though”. Let’s compare Pendulum Summoning to Soul Charge/Return:

Pendulum Summoning	Soul Charge/Return
Inherent Special Summon	Non-Inherent Special Summon
5 Monsters max.	5 Monsters max.
No cost	Has a cost (1000 LP per Monster for Soul Charge and half of current LP for Return)
No restriction on game mechanics	Restriction on game mechanics (Can’t attack for Soul Charge, banished during End Phase for Return)
Special Summon from Extra Deck/Hand	Special Summon from Graveyard/Banished Zone

They seem very similar don’t they? Sure, Konami has made Pendulum Summoning better than both Return and Soul Charge combined, but at its core, it is exactly the same thing. You’re still flooding the field with up to 5 monsters at will, you’re just not summoning those Monsters from the same places. Konami, please. If you’re going to have Pendulum Summoning as a thing, either put Soul Charge at 2 or give us back Return, because it just seems ridiculous to keep cards Banned and Limited for doing exactly what Pendulum Summoning does.

Argument 3- “Pendulum Monsters don’t break the Extra Deck limit, they just add to it”

This argument has the same flawed logic as Argument 1. You typically start with 15 cards in your Extra Deck (which is the limit) and then you get what’s essentially bonus cards on top of that, taking the Extra Deck beyond 15 cards. Saying that’s ok, is like being pulled over for driving drunk and telling the officer “It’s ok. I was at 0.05 (or whatever your legal limit is) when I got in the car” No. It doesn’t work that way. We have limits for a reason. Being allowed to break that limit, just makes Pendulum Summoning even more broken.

Argument 4- “You win or lose on the Pendulum Summon. Negate it and you win”

True. Yes, Pendulum Players usually push for game with a big Pendulum Summon of 3-5 monsters. If you negate that summon, you usually win. But that’s not the point. The point is having the ability to Summon that many monsters at once is broken.

Anyway, comment below either on the post or on Duel Amino if you got here from there. Do you agree with me? Do you disagree with me? I know the game had to evolve to survive, but (apart from hating it) I just think Pendulum Summoning as a whole was badly designed.

Big Dub out.

The Dark Magician Deck

So the Dark Magician Support is kind of Legit

I can’t remember if I said anything on here about the Deck with it was first announced, but I do remember telling people that the Deck wasn’t that good and I was actually really disappointed in it.

Now though. I’ll happily admit that I was wrong. Don’t get me wrong, because at the time the deck was trash but there are now 3 cards that make the Deck legit, and fourth card which I hope comes out in the TCG and for those who have played the Deck, you know that the card I’m referring to is essential in the Deck. But we’ll get to that. I want to talk about the other three cards first.

The first card is: Dark Magician of Chaos (DMoC).

Thank you Konami! You won’t see that too often, but they absolutely made the right call on this one. Banned to 3 was absolutely the best thing they could’ve done, not only to sell the Deck to actually make it somewhat playable. When DMoC’s errata was first announced, we were all on the same page. The “New effect, he ain’t even good” page. But we were just on the wrong page. We were just using him wrong. I think this card was still legal when Reborn was last legal and it opened up a nasty loop. The errata shuts that down, but he is still a powerful card and, in my opinion, the errata actually makes him more skilful to use. He’s still a 2800 beater. He still has his banishment effect. He still has his recycle effect. I don’t think you could ask for much more in a card. So how are we using him wrong, and what is the right way to use him?

In the old days before his errata, you’d drop DMoC and he’d pretty much sit there and banish your opponent’s monsters as he destroyed them until you forced them into submission and on top of that you usually got your Raigeki or your Reborn back so you put your opponent into a world of hurt. However, this way of using him isn’t effective in the current game state.

The most effective way I’ve found of using him in the current game state is to Game your opponent. He is still a 2800 beater. That is a lot of damage. Even if you don’t OTK your opponent through DMoC (and the Deck is able to OTK/FTK), you generalyl put them at such low LP that you don’t have to worry about them responding with things that cost Life Points to activate. Then you can choose the spell that’s going to set up your kill next turn. Alternatively, you can use “Dedication Through Light and Darkness” to Summon him on your opponent’s turn, get the spell during their End Phase, and you’re good to go.

Next: Dark Magic Circle

This card is some next level shit. It’s a Duality and D. Fissure rolled into one and that puts it in a very unique space. You’d be hard pressed to find a card that is like this one. How it works, for those who haven’t played or played against the Deck, is that you activate it, you look at the top 3 cards of your Deck. You then get to add a Dark Magician or a card with Dark Magician in its text to your hand (after revealing it to your opponent). The other two cards don’t go to the Graveyard though, you get to stack them on top of your Deck in any order you want. On top of that, when you Special Summon a Dark Magician (which is easy to do in the Deck, as you’d hope it would be) you then get to banish a card. Any card. Scale, facedown, backrow, Boss Monsters, basically anything that can be targeted or affected by card effects if fair game for this effect. That is incredibly powerful for a spell card, and it’s a DMoC target.

Thirdly, Magic Expand.

Now, there are several ways you can use this card, and I’ve only ever seen it used for its first effect: The attack boost. You can use this card defensively to protect a Dark Magician and maybe get over your opponent’s Boss Monster’s in the process. You can use it offensively and try to OTK your opponent. The ability to either protect or kill is what makes this card a vital addition to the Deck, even at 1.

So what is this fourth card? It’s a card, that in my opinion, the Deck cannot function without. If Konami wants to sell this Deck. If they want to sell The Dark Illusion as a set, then they must release Eternal Soul into the TCG. It allows you to Special Summon a Dark Magician from your hand or Graveyard which allows you to get off the effect of Dark Magic Circle (which can even be activated in the Battle Phase, which is just another level of insanity). It allows you to search either Dark Magic Attack (which destroys Pendulums) or Thousand Knives which allows you to pop a monster. It also protects Dark Magician(s) on your side of the field so they can’t be Raigeki’d or Bottomlessed. However, there is a downside of Eternal Soul: If it leaves the field: your monsters (not just your Dark Magicians) go bye-bye. That is a massive down side, but this deck gives you so much field advantage you should be able to prevent its destruction quite easily.

The Deck isn’t Tier 1-0. It’s nowhere near as strong as Monarchs (which is really the only Top Tier Deck in the current format, at least that I’ve seen so far. Dracopals were severely weakened, but I’ll leave that for another time), but it’s a decent, fun, Tier 3-2 Deck. So try it out, have fun with it and see what you think of it. You might be pleasantly surprised at its ability to allow a free-flowing game state, but can lock your opponent down and leave them defenceless when it wants to. One last thing, the Deck needs to go aggressively. If you don’t have your field set up by the end of your second turn at the latest, you will lose and you will lose very fast.

Anyway, Big Dub out.

Top 10 Favourite Trap Cards

Top 10 Favourite Trap Cards

Welcome to the last part of my favourite cards. You can read my favourite Monsters by clicking here and read my favourite Spells by clicking here.

Like always, be aware that the list may contain cards that are banned as this list is made from a selection of Trap Cards that I’m aware of.

So, to finish off this series…

10. Just Desserts

Fun fact: This card has only been printed once as a Common in Starter Deck: Kaiba Evolution, meaning that the card hasn’t been printed in 14 years. The effect of the card is simple- inflict 500 points of damage to your opponent for each monster they control. Pendulum 5, lose 2500 Life Points. It’s a very cheap card (about 70 cents US) and I’ve sided it into a few Decks to counter Pendulums because it does turn their greatest strength against them. I’ll admit though, it is a pretty trollsy way to win.

9. Storming Mirror Force

Originally printed as a Secret Rare in Clash of Rebellions, it’s also getting a reprint as what looks like a Gold Rare (though not confirmed as of writing) in Premium Gold: Infinite Gold. Effect is very simple: opponent attacks, you bounce all their monsters back to the hand. The card is highly effective against Extra Deck Monsters as decks don’t usually have a way to get resources back easily to remake those Monsters (unless they’re Pendulums). Overall, it’s an ok card but in my opinion there a better Mirror Forces you can use, but I like it mainly because of its ability to counter decks like Monarchs and Majespecters.

8. Starlight Road

Printed as a Secret Rare in Duelist Pack Collection Tin 2010, it has been reprinted 5 times since, twice in Gold Rare. I have seen some Pendulum Decks use this to protect their scales, though I would argue there are better cards to use to protect your scales. I like it because of Stardust Dragon. I never watched 5D’s but I’ve always liked Stardust Dragon and its ability to protect anything. Starlight Road is just an easy way to get it out, though in Destruction Swordsman, you can bust out Level 8 Synchro Monsters without much effort.

7. Mirror Force

I always found it weird that this card wasn’t printed in the original Yugi Starter Deck. Its first print was in Metal Raiders as an Ultra Rare and has been reprinted 18 times. The reason I like this card over Storming Mirror Force is because I’m the kind of players who likes to dictate my opponent’s plays. Sometimes, I might not want them to have certain Monsters in hand, so I’d rather destroy those monsters and have a degree of control over if and when they come back. You don’t have that with Storming because unless you have things to negate summons, your opponent can reset their field, with some difficulty if they had Extra Deck monsters on the field. Simply destroying the Monsters prevents that to an extent.

6. Torrential Tribute

Printed in Dark Beginning 1 as an Ultra Rare this cards mass monster removal has made it a staple in many decks. My decks are no different. When I build a Deck, I almost always have 1 copy in it. It’s essentially a faster Dark Hole. “But, Big Dub! It’s a Trap Card. Trap Cards aren’t fast!”. I know that usually Trap Cards aren’t considered fast, but like at Dark Hole and Torrential together. Torrential is clearly faster as it can be activated on your opponent’s turn and stun Pendulums a bit. Oh, you Pendulum 5? Send them back to the Extra Deck.

5. Return from the Different Dimension

Printed in Exclusive Pack as a Common, Return was banned in 2010 (I think) and for good reason: it’s a card that can always be activated and flood the field for an OTK. I mainly used it in my Horakhty deck (Banish Slifer and Obelisk + 3 monsters. Activate Return, tribute for Ra. Tribute all three for Horakhty) and I would like to see this card come back for just one format, just to give Pendulum players a taste of their own medicine. So they can actually feel the pain and frustration that we feel when they Pendulum out five monsters. Most Pendulum players hear the complaints of non-Pendulum players and say “Pendulum Summoning isn’t broken. It can be easily stopped”. I think Return being legal for a format would force them to change their tune a bit.

4. Quaking Mirror Force

Released in Breakers of Shadow as an Ultra Rare, Quaking Mirror Force is considered to be one of the “meh” Mirror Forces. I actually think it’s one of the better ones. It doesn’t hurt Monarchs too much because they rely on tribute summoning, but everything else it causes headaches for because it clogs up their field reducing the number of options available to them. If a Pendulum player has Quaking used against them and say they’ve Pendulum Summoned 5 monsters all in attack position. Those monsters are then forced to be permanently set. Outside of a Dark Hole, their only option is to tribute those monsters, which takes up their Normal Summon so they can’t go into their Joker play or Xyz or Synchro as freely as they would like to so it significantly slows them down. Again, if you’re playing against Monarchs, you’re basically giving them free tributes so you’re probably better off destroying or banishing their monsters.

3. Bottomless Trap Hole

Released in Legacy of Darkness (2004) as a Rare, Bottomless has been a staple in most decks pretty much since that time, but it’s power has only fully been realised with the introduction of the Pendulum mechanic and Traptrix Rafflesia. The ability to banish problem monsters straight from the field (provided they have 1500 ATK) became a highly important ability to have. It was also extremely powerful, hence why it’s limited here in the TCG (but at three in the OCG). But the limit didn’t deter us from playing it as we entered the Pendulum era. Why? For two reasons. 1- depleting Pendulums resources was (and still is) one of the most effective ways to combat them. And 2- Traptrix Rafflesia allowed us to spring it on decks without needing to set it, making not only this card, but all the “Trap Hole” cards much faster and safer to play.

2. Skill Drain

This Dark Crisis Rare card is infamous among Yugioh veterans and negating any and all effects before they can do damage is very useful. The problem is that it negates your effects as well which is why most players elect to run either Breakthrough Skill or Effect Veiler, but certain decks and situations can use this to its full and devastating potential.

1. Relay Soul

This will surprise a few of you. Relay Soul is a Super Rare that was printed in Dragons of Legend. Probably not going to see it again. People knock Relay Soul saying that if the Monster leaves the field, you automatically lose the Duel. There are ways around that. You can Xyz with the monster. Because Xyz materials are not considered to have left the field, you bypass the lose condition. The other way to use it to finish off your opponent. I’ve used it exclusively in my God Card deck because it allows you to Special Summon Obelisk and Slifer. Throw in Skill Drain to prevent them leaving the field and you get a 4000 beater and after equipping Slifer with Moon Mirror Shield, you also get a monster that is impossible to destroy by battle. Some cards are trash. Some, you just need to know how to use properly.

So what do you think? Agree with my list? Think I missed something? Leave your own list in the comment section and maybe we can discuss it.

Top 10 Favourite Spells (of All Time)

Well, I finally finished my list for my 10 favourite spell cards. It was a long list to narrow down so I’m not including Honourable Mentions, but if I get enough support for it maybe I’ll do a “20-11 Favourite Spell Cards” list, but for now it’s just Top 10. The list does include a banned card, but does not include Pendulum Monsters or their effects. The reason being is that I really hate Pendulums and the Pendulum mechanic itself. The set releases and years are TCG based, not OCG. So, let’s get into the list. 

10. DOUBLE SPELL

So this card is pretty old. We all got a copy in Yugi’s Legendary Decks for those who bought it, but it was first released in Dark Revelation: Volume 1 as an Ultra Rare back in 2005. The card is an excellent Side Deck card that can get you out of a tight spot quite easily. What the card does is, you discard a Spell and then you can activate a Spell from your OPPONENT’S Graveyard as this card’s effect. So that’s an extra Raigeki. A fourth Upstart, basically whatever you need provided that your opponent has already used the card. And just imagine the pain this card causes in Mirror Matches. Whatever your opponent does to gain advantage, you can make the same play at the cost of a Spell. I know Spells are hard to recycle because there’s not many Spell recycling cards, but if you can counter your opponent’s field advantage by building the same field or an even better field, that loss of a Spell won’t really matter. And you can always discard a dead draw (like Terraforming when you have no targets left in your Deck).

9. WAVE-MOTION CANNON

Another old card also released in Dark Revelation: Volume 1 as a Common, this was basically the best Burn card going around back in the day when Burn Decks were a thing (they still are, but not really around much anymore). You’d activate this card and it would count your turns. Then, during your Main Phase you could destroy this card and your opponent would take 1000 damage for each turn this card had been face up on the field. Now, by today’s standards it’s a very slow card, but back then back row was difficult to remove. You had MST, Dust Tornado, Breaker and Feather Duster (before it was banned) if you could afford them so this card could easily sit there, count 8 turns and then OTK your opponent. It was a stupid way to lose but I like it just for its troll ability.

8. DRAGON RAVINE

This card, with the release of Shinning Victories is about to fuck shit up. When it was released in the Dragunity Legion Structure Deck as a Common, the card didn’t make that much of an impact, despite being Limited. The card was really only played in Dragunity Decks and once they dropped off the face of the planet no one used the card. But now we have the Blue-Eyes support coming out and that relies so much on having certain cards in the Graveyard, Ravine is just going remind everyone why it earned its place as a Limited card and it would not surprise me if it returned there very quickly. The card can be used in Destruction Swordsman (formerly Swordmaster) but your only real target is Dragon Buster Blade and if you need that in the Graveyard, there are better ways of sending it there. I like Ravine for the utility it gives Dragon based Decks because Dragon’s are some of the easiest monsters Special Summon from the Graveyard so one Field Spell= a shit ton of advantage.

7. MOUND OF THE BOUND CREATOR

For those who have read my posts before, you’ll know that I am a massive fan of the Egyptian God cards. Released in Dragons of Legend as a Secret Rare in 2014, this card is one of the earliest support cards for the Egyptian Gods. No surprise it makes my list right? But now, we have Decks that can summon Lvl 10’s and make Lvl 10’s very easily giving this card so much versatility in the game. I really want to test this card out with Bishbalkin when it comes out in the TCG and hopefully this card gets a reprint making it a bit easier to pull. For those who don’t know what the card does, it prevents your Lvl 10 or higher monsters from being destroyed by card effects, they can’t be targeted so the only way to destroy them is to destroy them by battle, if a Lvl 10 destroys an opponent’s monster by battle and sends it to the Graveyard your opponent takes an extra 1000 damage, and (if that wasn’t enough) if this card is destroyed you get to add a God to your hand. So not only is it an offensive and defensive Field Spell, it’s also a searcher for the God Cards.

6. THE SEAL OF ORICHALCOS

By far one of the most iconic cards of the first series, The Seal of Orichalcos was the king of Field Spells when it was released in Legendary Collection 3: Yugi’s World as an Ultra Rare in 2012. If the card had its anime effects I think that the card would still be in use and very nasty to deal with. But it would raise some important Ruling questions such as “Can overlay a monster in my back row with a monster in my front row to perform an Xyz Summon?” or “Can use a Tuner in my back row and a monster in my front row (or vice versa) to perform a Synchro Summon” or even “Am I allowed to Xyz, Synchro or Pendulum Summon to my back row?”. Even though its real effect was very watered down, the card saw some use in Monarchs as the Deck didn’t require an Extra Deck and most of your monsters would have the same ATK allowing you to stall out your opponent in the event that they managed to get 3400+ beater on the board. But the main reason I like the card? Who doesn’t enjoy stealing people’s souls?

5. FOOLISH BURIAL

Moving away from Field Spells, Foolish Burial was released in Rise of the Dragon Lords Structure Deck as a common in 2007 before being reprinted eight times. But the card didn’t enter the Meta for a long time when it became advantageous to send your own monsters to the Graveyard. Prior to this, the main play was to Call of the Haunted’d your beatstick for free. Today the card is in every Meta Deck. Even Pendulums run it. The card just so much versatility that it’s not bad for a very old card. Basically this card gives you deck thinning ability while also giving you access to your big hitters and that’s what I like about it.

4. DESTRUCTION SWORDSMAN FUSION

Recently released in Breakers of Shadow as a Common, Destruction Swordsman Fusion is Buster Blader’s Super Poly (and we all remember how broken that card was. Buster Dragon is very easy to make in the Deck so making Buster Blader the Dragon Destroyer Swordsman is incredibly easy to do. Got a Buster Blader in hand or on field and your opponent has a problematic monster?  No problem. Fuse with it, get rid of it and have a big beater on the field giving you massive field advantage. The card is good and the deck itself is underrated in my opinion.

3. RAIGEKI

One of everyone’s favourite cards, Raigeki was first released in 2004 in Legend of Blue Eyes White Dragon as a Super Rare and has since been reprinted in every rarity bar Common, Ultimate, Ghost and Gold Secret (of course Ghosts and Ultimates aren’t being made anymore). Raigeki was actually banned for a period of time being moved onto the Limited list and it had an immediate impact on the Meta game. No longer did players have to wait for the board to be cleared to activate Dark Hole, because they could wreck their opponent’s field and push for game. Today in the age of Pendulums where monsters don’t go to the Graveyard very often, Raigeki isn’t as powerful as it once was, but dropped at the right time it can still be very deadly. And that’s why I like it. A perfectly timed, top-decked Raigeki has saved me on so many occasions I can’t even put a number on it. It sucks when it is used against you, but you can’t really be too salty about your opponent using a card you also run.

2. TWIN TWISTER

Another card recently released in Breakers of Shadow Twin Twister is the new MST. Sure, you discard a card but you force your opponent to go -2 in field advantage. If you hit their back row or crack their scales you’re probably going to cause them a few headaches. You can destroy your own back row with it as well so the card is excellent in Artifacts. In the end, destroying back row is one of the most satisfying parts on the game so destroying double back row is twice as satisfying.

1. MONSTER REBORN

The most iconic spell card of Yugioh as a whole up to Zexal, Monster Reborn is one of few cards to be banned, then Limited and the banned again. Released in Starter Deck: Yugi Evolution as a Common in 2004 (shortly followed by Starter Deck: Kaiba Evolution also as a Common) Reborn is one of the oldest cards in the game and has been banned for almost the longest period of time (if we combine the two ban periods). I understand why people don’t like the card. Having your monster used against you for free hurts a lot, especially when they beat you down with it, but would anyone really run it? I would because I’m a nostalgia person, but in the Meta, would anyone actually run this card? Probably not because it hurts consistency a little bit and the way the Meta is at the moment, if you get a dead draw, if you don’t have a way to deal with that you lose. The card isn’t as powerful as it once was, we now have monsters that outclass this card. But for nostalgic and iconic reasons, this card is my number 1.

So what’s your favourite Spell Cards of all time? Leave them in the comments section and tell me: Would you play Monster Reborn if it was legalised again?

I’ve now got a lot of work to do to finish off this series with my 10 favourite Traps cards.

Big Dub out.

The Adjusted Banlist

So, no doubt by now you’ve probably heard about (what Konami is calling) the Adjusted Banlist. And let’s be honest. It’s an emergency banlist. And with the next list, which we expect to be a month away at most (but no one that I’ve seen seems to have confirmation on that), it wasn’t really required. If they updated the banlist every six months and it was another 4 months away, then we could see the reasoning behind a mid-format shake up with an emergency banlist. But I think that we all could’ve coped with waiting for the Adjusted Banlist to be rolled into the normal banlist when it’s updated. That being said, I’m very happy with the decisions that they made. So we’ll go through the Forbidden’s first and then the Limited’s. There are no Semi-Limited cards.

For those who haven’t seen the list (and the new errata for Pendulum Sorcerer) click here

PERFORMAGE PLUSHFIRE

Well this card really should’ve been called “Performage PLUSfire”. That’s essentially what it did. It just generated massive amounts of advantage. The card was useful for both its Pendulum Effect and, even more so, its Monster Effect.

Pendulum Effect: If a “Performage” monster(s) you control is destroyed by battle or card effect: You can Special Summon this card from your Pendulum Zone, then take 500 damage. You can only use this effect of “Performage Plushfire” once per turn.

Monster Effect: If this card on the field is destroyed by battle or card effect: You can Special Summon 1 “Performage” monster from your hand or Deck, except “Performage Plushire”

So what would happen is, you’d have a monster destroyed and get out an essentially free Plushfire (normally during your own turn), then you’d use it to Synchro, Pendulum it back, Fuse with it. Or you’d destroy it to bring out your heavy hitter which generally also gives you massive advantage anyway.

“But Big Dub. We’ve had monsters that allow you to do for a very long time! Why was Plushfire singled out? This is so unfair!”. Don’t worry you salty PePe players. I hear you. And I don’t care. You played with one of the most unfair Decks ever to grace our game with its presence, and you then you bitch about the banlist unfair? Are you smoking crack? If so, could I have some? Because it seems like good shit. Plushfire was singled out because it’s a Pendulum Monster. What’s the advantage that Plushfire has over all the other cards that allow you to easily bring out heavy hitters? That you can summon it back immediately after you use its effect (assuming you haven’t already Pendulum Summoned this turn) and use it again. These other monsters don’t have that ability. And if they do, it’s limited to once per turn. Plushfire isn’t. Theoretically, you can get this effect off 5 times in a turn (well, you can’t now, because it’s banned).

PERFORMAGE DAMAGE JUGGLER

This one was a bit of a surprise. For me anyway, quite a few did actually see it coming but Damage Juggler was never really a problem in my eyes. And it was probably only banned for its third effect which reads “You can banish this card from your Graveyard; add 1 “Performage” monster from your Deck to your hand except “Performage Damage Juggler”. You can only use this effect of “Performage Damage Juggler” once per turn.”. The reason I think that’s the reason for it being banned is because we have a lot of cards that reduce battle damage and effect damage to 0 and none of them are even Limited.

This is one card where I agree with you PePe players. The effect itself isn’t overpowered. But people would banish this card, add Plushfire to their hand and then… well just reread above to see the problem.

I feel that straight up banning the card is probably a bit extreme. It probably could’ve gone to Limited. It would’ve hurt the deck a bit, but PePe players would’ve been able to cope with the consistency issue. I’m fairly sure this card will come back at 1 sometime in the future.

TELLARKNIGHT PTOLEMAEUS

Everyone knows why this card was banned: Cyber Dragon Infinity (which, personally I believe to be ban worthy in its own right). Basically, Ptolemaeus made any Deck that had access to Rank 4’s able to summon Infinity. And almost every deck that I can think of has access to Rank 4’s. I don’t think I need to say much more.

Now to the newly Limited cards.

PERFORMAPAL SKULLCROBAT JOKER

Basically, this was the Stratos of PePe. This allowed to go for your Damage Juggler or your Plushfire or anything you needed at the time. No restriction on level or attack points of the added monster (not that it would’ve really mattered anyway if going for Plushfire or Damage Juggler). Not ban worthy so I’m comfortable with it at one, which I think most were running at 1 anyway. I saw a few profiles running it at 2, but the majority was 1. And it was searchable anyway through Damage Juggler and just about any Performapal search card.

PERFORMAPAL MONKEYBOARD

Very much the same reason as Joker. It’s effectively a RotA for the Deck. Just massive consistency. Comfortable with it at 1.

LUSTER PENDULUM, THE DRACOSLAYER

This card allowed you to build and crack your own scales as necessary. The major play was obviously Ariadne, but no one seems to be playing that so why was it Limited? I honestly don’t know. It didn’t like that much of a problem to me, but that’s just my opinion. Maybe you guys know more. I know that it opened up a lot of OTK/FTK strategies which we all know that Konami doesn’t like. Other than that, I don’t really know. I’m not a Pendulum player. My knowledge of Pendulums is limited to how they and the mechanic itself works as well as the most used Pendulum Monsters. So maybe you guys know and can tell me why this card was Limited, if not for the OTK/FTK ability.

I'VE RETURNED!!!

So it’s been a while since I posted. Reason being is that I had some personal stuff to deal with, then my sister’s 18^th, then obviously Christmas, then my 21^st, but I’m back now and this post is going to be a response to a question that a reader asked me, and if you have any comments or questions or even things that you want me to talk about or anything that you think I’ve missed or gotten wrong, feel free to say it. Especially if I’m wrong so that I can correct it. I like to think I know a fair bit about the game, but as knowledgeable as I am about the game, I can get things wrong occasionally. It happens, not everyone can know everything because there’s just too much to know. Anyway, after I’ve answered the question, sort of as a late New Year’s gift to all of you I am going to give you my Destruction Sword Deck Profile and talk about some of the substitutes you can use if you don’t have a certain card(s). Obviously if you play it online, that won’t be an issue for you.

So Elemune asked me on Christmas Day “Is there any way to separate Yugioh! cards by release in order to gain a more competitive balanced playing? Something like order by sets, structural decks, etc?”. Well Elemune, it’s complicated and it all comes down to what Deck you want to play. Ultimately there are Decks that are not competitive and that’s just how it is. So for example, say you want to play Greydles (which is a fun little deck in my opinion), then you would need at least two sets of Dimension of Chaos to get the bulk of the deck. But you want to run something like PePe (Performages and Performapals), which I consider to be a cancer in the game, then you’ll definitely need Dimension of Chaos and Breakers of Shadow which are the latest two sets. PePe is inherently stronger than Greydles so it doesn’t matter how strong you try to build your Greydle Deck, you will still lose to PePe. That’s not being uncompetitive, that’s not unfair, it’s just how it is. So, to extent, yes there is a way to separate cards in terms of what you’ll use, but it depends on what deck you want to play. One more quick thing, Yugioh! is not a balanced game. Even in the Meta at the moment. There are three decks which are ruling the Meta at the moment: PePe, Dracoslayers and Majespecters and even between those three decks the game is not balanced. It’s close. I’ve seen Dracoslayers and Majespecters take down PePe, and I’ve seen PePe destroy them both almost effortlessly. So Elemune, I hope that answered your question. I’m guessing English isn’t your first language because when I first read the question I didn’t exactly understand what you were asking but I think I got the general idea of what you wanted to know. If not, comment again and maybe reword the question and I’ll take another crack at it. Again, I’m always happy to answer questions from you guys, but please be aware that if you ask me a question in anything other than English, the translation might not make a lot of sense to me and I’ll either ignore it or ask you try again. Alternatively, I might try to answer it the best I can, but it might not make a lot of sense to you, or it might not answer your question at all. So please, if you comment, please use English even if it’s a bad translation I’ll at least be able to piece together the general idea of your question.

And now, my gift to you all. My Destruction Sword Deck Profile.

MONSTERS (16)

2x Dark Magician

1x BLS

3x Buster Blader

1x Prisma

1x Wizard Buster Destruction Sword

1x Maxx “C”

3x Buster Whelp of the Destruction Swordsman

3x Dragon Buster Destruction Sword

1x Kinka-Byo

SPELLS (13)

1x One For One

2x Emblem of Dragon Destroyer

1x Raigeki

1x Fusion Conscription

1x The Claw of Hermos

2x Galaxy Queen’s Light

1x Dark Hole

2x Destruction Swordsman Fusion

2x Twin Twisters

TRAPS (11)

1x Chain Dispel

1x Bottomless

1x Solemn Wishes

2x Eternal Soul

1x Royal Decree

2x Anti-Spell Fragrance

2x Solemn Strike

1x Dark Bribe

EXTRA DECK (15- 5 Fusion, 8 Synchro, 2 Xyz)

2x Dark Paladin

2x Buster Blader, the Dragon Destroyer Swordsman

1x Red-Eyes Black Dragon Sword

1x Bishbalkin

2x Beelze

1x Hot Red Dragon Archfiend

1x Thought Ruler Archfiend

3x Buster Dragon

1x Dracossack

1x Number 11: Big Eye

So the main card you’ll be wanting to substitute in this deck is Eternal Soul because it’s OCG Exclusive at the moment. I’m hoping they bring it across to the TCG but I guess we’ll find out when the new Dark Magician support comes out. So you can sub in two Call of the Haunted, that’s probably the closest you’re going to get, and you might want to replace Galaxy Queen’s Light (which you’ll only use for Bishbalkin) with Ancient Rules to help you with summoning the Dark Magician. You can even run Dark Magic Attack and Thousand Knives in the deck so that’s another option.  You can try Upstart Goblin to increase consistency. I’d say it’s fairly consistent. All you need in hand to make a decent field is Buster Whelp and Buster Blader and both are searchable through One for One and Emblem of the Dragon Destroyer respectively. But feel free to mess around with it, But whatever your do, do not replace Kinka-Byo. The card is broken in the Deck, draw it at the right time and you can straight up win off of it. Anyway, that is my New Year’s gift to you. Next up, and I’m hoping to finish this over the next few days, is my 10 favourite Spell cards of all time and we’ll finish off that series with my ten favourite Trap cards of all time. I’m on Salvation, so if you feel like Dueling me and you see me hosting, feel free to join in. Username is BigDub

Buster Blader card review

So, I’ve been testing out the new Buster Blader support on YGOPro Salvation (Username BigDub if you’re interested) and I’m fairly impressed with it. So, I’m giving to give you all a rundown of the current cards in the support (minus Buster Blader itself) and give them a rating. I’m also then going to suggest cards for the non-Pendulum build for the Deck.

Destruction Sword- Arms Buster Blade

-          Monster (Effect)

-          Dark attribute

-          Machine type

-          Level 4

-          1600/1200

-          Effect: You can target one “Buster Blader” monster you control; equip this monster from your hand or your side of the field to that target. While this card is equipped to a monster, Spell/Trap cards that are already face-up on your opponent’s side of the field cannot activate their effects. You can send this equipped card to the Graveyard; the monster this card was equipped to gains 1000 ATK until the end of this turn.

When I was testing this card out, I ran it at 3, and then brought it down to 2 and I’m considering putting it to 1 because it’s just not useful at all. It hasn’t got great attack but it can lessen the damage you take from being attacked and its effect isn’t much better. I don’t understand why the Spells and Traps have to be already face-up on the field. The only thing I can see this stopping is Pendulums. Even though you can’t stop your opponent from Pendulum Summoning you can stop Qli’s in their tracks because neither Scout or Monolith can activate their effects. Other than that, it’s not useful. PSYFrame Overload is really the only Trap I can see this working against, but that’s really situational because you have to equip this after Overload is activated, and that’s assuming they haven’t already banished your Buster Blader monster. I feel the effect should be that “your opponent  cannot activate Spell (or Trap, one of the two) cards.” Period. That would be a much better effect and it would encourage players to use it more. The only redeeming quality this card has is the ATK boost, which can be helpful in some situations, but overall, I feel the card is trash.

Rating: 3/10

Destruction Sword- Wizard Buster Blade

-          Monster (Effect)

-          Dark Attribute

-          Spellcaster type

-          Level 3

-          1200/900

-          Effect: You can target one “Buster Blader” monster you control; equip this monster from your hand or your side of the field to that target. While this card is equipped to a monster, monsters in your opponent’s Graveyard cannot activate their effects. You can send this equipped card to the Graveyard, then target 1 “Destruction Swordmaster” monster in your Graveyard, except “Destruction Sword(master)- Wizard Buster Blade”, add it to your hand.

This card may be weaker in terms of attack and defence when compared to Arms Buster Blade, but its effects are much better. While equipped this card can hurt quite a few Decks, even though having monsters in the Graveyard isn’t really a thing anymore thanks to Pendulums, it can certainly hurt Gravekeepers and Dark Worlds. The only thing that could make this card excellent would be “cards in your opponent’s Graveyard cannot activate their effects”. That would make me run this at 3 instead of 2 because it would hurt a lot more Decks and provide protection from cards like Galaxy Cyclone and Breakthrough Skill. The effect you really want though, is the ability to add cards from your Graveyard to your hand. That ability is a livesaver, and we all know how good adding cards is. Overall, the card is decent but could be a lot better.

Rating: 5/10

Companion of the Destruction Swordmaster

-          Monster (Tuner, Effect)

-          Light attribute

-          Dragon type

-          Level 1

-          400/300

-          Effect: When this card is Normal Summoned: You can add 1 “Destruction Swordmaster” card from your Deck to your hand, except “Companion of the Destruction Swordmaster”. You can only use 1 of the following effects of “Companion of the Destruction Swordmaster” per turn and only once that turn. (1) You can Tribute this card; Special Summon 1 “Buster Blader” from your hand or Graveyard. (2) While this card is in your Graveyard, if you control “Buster Blader”: You can discard 1 “Destruction Swordmaster” card; Special Summon this card.

I don’t care what build you claim to be running, this deck CANNOT operate without running Companion at 3. You just can’t do it. The card is one of the best in the support. Yeah, it only has 400 ATK, but unless its effect gets negated you don’t have to worry about that because you’re going to be tributing it or Tuning with it almost straight away. It has a search ability, which just opens up a lot of combos with the deck and you can tribute it to get out Buster Blader in the same turn. It’s a Tuner as well, and I’ll get to the Synchro monster soon, so you can use it as a generic Tuner as well. Most of the time, you’ll be using effect (1). If you find yourself having to use effect (2) make sure you can Synchro with it otherwise, you’ll be in a very bad position. The only thing that the card is missing is some form of protection. It needs something like “this effect cannot be negated” or “This card cannot be destroyed by battle” or something like that just in case it gets stuck on the field.

Rating: 8/10

Destruction Sword- Dragon Buster Blade

-          Monster (Tuner, Effect)

-          Dark Attribute

-          Dragon type

-          Level 1

-          400/300

-          Effect: You can target one “Buster Blader” monster you control; equip this monster from your hand or your side of the field to that target. While this card is equipped to a monster, you opponent cannot Special Summon monsters from the Extra Deck. While this card is equipped to a monster: You can Special Summon this card. You can only use this effect of “Destruction Sword(master)- Dragon Buster Blade” once per turn.

So this is the card you are going to be searching out a majority of the time with the help of Companion. It’s a Tuner as well and why you’ll want to use this card as a Tuner will become clear when I talk about the Synchro Monster. The effect that everyone loves is that it locks your opponent out of their Extra Deck. It basically shuts down Pendulums to the point where they can’t play, because Pendulums require access to the Extra Deck to swarm the field. If they can’t do that, they generally lose. I run this at 3 but you could potentially get away with it at 2.

Rating: 8/10

Buster Dragon, the Preceptrampler Dragon

-          Monster (Synchro, Effect)

-          Dark Attribute

-          Dragon Type

-          Level 8

-          1200/2800

-          Material: 1 Tuner, 1 or more Non-Tuners

-          Effect: All monsters your opponent controls become Dragon-type monsters. Once per turn, if you do not control a “Buster Blader” monster: You can target one “Buster Blader” in your Graveyard; Special Summon it. Once per turn, during your opponent’s turn: You can target one “Buster Blader” monster you control; equip 1 “Destruction Swordmaster” monster from your Graveyard to that target (this is a Quick Effect).

This is one of two monsters you want to run at 3 in your Extra Deck, purely because of the lock it makes with the Fusion monster, which we will get to next. You’re going to want to Synchro Summon this by using Dragon Buster Blade instead of Companion because, odds are that you’ll already have this card equipped to Buster Blader so there’s no point in sending three cards to the Graveyard to get out one card so you effectively go -1. You can then use Buster Dragon’s effect to reset your field so you essentially got it out for free and still lock down your opponent.  This only thing this card is missing is “This card cannot be destroyed by your opponent’s card effects”. It’s very vulnerable to effects, though when you see what the Fusion does, you’ll see that it kind of has to be.

Rating: 9/10

Buster Blader, the Dragon Destroyer

-          Monster (Fusion, Effect)

-          Light attribute

-          Warrior type

-          Level 8

-          2800/2500

-          Material: Buster Blader + 1Dragon-Type Monster

-          Effect: Must be Fusion Summoned and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. Cannot attack your opponent directly. This card gains 1000 ATK and DEF for each Dragon-Type monster your opponent controls or is in their Graveyard. Change all Dragon-Type monsters your opponent controls to Defense Position. Dragon-Type monsters in your opponent’s possession cannot activate their effects. If this card attacks a Defence Position monster, inflict piercing battle damage to your opponent.

This card, if it could not be destroyed by card effects, would be a win condition. That “Dragon-type monsters cannot activate their effects” effect also applies to monsters in the Graveyard. So, let’s see how nasty we can get this:

Level one: Combo with Buster Dragon- Opponent locked out attacking.

Level two: Combo with Buster Dragon AND Dragon Buster Blade- Opponent locked out of attacking and their Extra Deck

Level three: Combo with Buster Dragon, Dragon Buster Blade AND Arms Buster Blade- Opponent locked out of attacking, their Extra Deck and ALL monster effects in the Graveyard.

And even if your opponent could have their monsters in attack position, you would never have to worry about this card being destroyed by battle because even with one monster on their field (and treated as Dragon) this card becomes a 3800 point beater. 7800 if they have 5. And that’s just on the field. It includes Dragons in the Graveyard so this card can easily reach over 10000 ATK. So you can understand why both this card and Buster Dragon need to be vulnerable to card effects: It’s impossible to destroy them by battle if they’re on the field together. Oh, you’ll want to run it at 3.

Rating: 10/10

Buster Blader, the Destruction Swordmaster

-          Monster (Effect)

-          Earth attribute

-          Warrior type

-          Level 7

-          2600/2300

-          Effect: This card’s name becomes “Buster Blader” while it is on the field or in the Graveyard. If an opponent’s monster(s) is destroyed by battle or card effect and sent to the Graveyard: You can target 1 of those monsters; equip it to this card. Once per turn: You can send 1 monster equipped to this card to the Graveyard; destroy all monsters your opponent controls with the same Type as the sent monster’s.

So, this card is trash. It’s a Buster Blader but it has no way to increase its ATK by itself (unlike Buster Blader and Buster Blader, the Dragon Destroyer). The effect is only good against Dragon based decks or while you don’t have Buster Dragon on the field. Think about it. If your opponent is playing a  Dragon based deck, you can equip a Dragon to this card. Send that Dragon to the Graveyard and you destroy all their monsters on the field and then you get re-equip another Dragon, while Buster Blader (and Dragon Destroyer) keeps its ATK boost. However, if they’re not playing Dragons, this card is useless. Even with Buster Dragon on the field, the equipped monster will not be considered a Dragon because it is considered to be a Spell card. It’s just no good. Even if your opponent was running only Spellcasters, or Fiends, or Fairies, running this card would defeat the purpose of playing this deck, because you’re supposed to powering up your monsters, not keeping them at base strength. Good against Dragons. Not much good against anything else.

Rating: 2/10

Destruction Swordmaster Fusion

-          Spell (Quick-play)

-          Effect: Fusion Summon 1 Fusion Monster that lists “Buster Blader” as a Material from your Extra Deck, using monsters from your hand or either side of the field as Fusion Materials. If this card is in your Graveyard: You can send one card from your hand to the Graveyard; add this card to your hand. You can only use each effect of “Destruction Swordmaster Fusion” once per turn.

This card is up there with Companion. I run it at 3, but you could potentially run it at 2 because you can search it out with Companion anyway. It’s Super Poly basically, but only for Buster Blader. And you can add it back to your hand and reset yourself for next turn. It’s a Quick-play so you can activate it on your opponent’s turn to use their monsters before they can really hurt you, or you can activate it during your Battle Phase to potentially OTK/FTK. I can’t see how the deck would function without this card because you’d have to run Poly which just isn’t that good anymore.

Rating: 8/10

Fate of the Destruction Swordmaster

-          Spell (Quick-play)

-          Effect: Target up to 3 monsters with the same Type in your opponent’s Graveyard; banish them, and if you do, 1 “Buster Blader” monster or 1”Destruction Swordmaster” monster you control gains 500 ATK until the end of this turn. If this card is in your Graveyard: You can discard 1 “Destruction Swordmaster” card; add this card to your hand. You can only use each effect of “Fate of the Destruction Swordmaster” once per turn.

I’ve never had a reason to use this card. Presumably, it’s meant to help you protect your monsters, but there is definitely an OTK possibility.

Destruction Swordmaster Flash

-          ­Trap (normal)

-          Effect: If you control a Fusion Monster that lists “Buster Blader” as a Fusion Material: Banish all monsters your opponent controls. When exactly 1 “Buster Blader” monster you control is targeted by a card or effect: You can banish this card from your Graveyard; negate the effect, and if you do, destroy it.

Now I’ve never used this card, because it doesn’t fit my style of play, but I can tell this is a good card. It provides the protection that Buster Blader, the Dragon Destroyer is lacking. On top of that, you can banish everything they control. Most of the time, if you have Dragon Destroyer out, you’re also going to have Buster Dragon out as well so you don’t need to worry about monster effects because they’re being negated, but Flash works against spells and traps that target. The only thing that would make this card better is if it was a Counter Trap card. “Oh, you’re summoning Triverr? Activate Flash, banished and you don’t get its effect.” (I hate Triverr. Go and read my “Decks that take no skill” if you want to know why).

Rating: 7/10

Total Deck Rating: 60/90

Average Rating: 6.6/10

Cards to include in a Non-Pendulum Deck

Anti-Spell Fragrance

ASF is an excellent card to run against Pendulums because it basically locks them out until they can destroy it, because they can’t set in their Pendulum Zones. Most Pendulum Decks lack the ability to destroy Spell and Trap cards with anything other than Pendulum Effects, so your ASF should be safe from cards like MST and Galaxy Cyclone. I’d run it at 2 (and in fact I do run it at 2) to increase the odds of drawing it. Ideally, you’d want to open up with ASF, set it, use as many spells as you can and then activate it on your opponent’s Draw Phase.

Elemental HERO Prisma

Most BB run at least of one of this, but I just thought I’d include it anyway. Prisma makes it easier to summon Dragon Destroyer and it also gives you a target for Companion’s effect, assuming you send Buster Blader to the Graveyard.

Dark Magician

Apart from nostalgia purposes, this card allows you to make Dark Paladin and that allows to create a partial lock on your opponent if you have Buster Dragon and Dragon Destroyer on the field as well. Buster Dragon to force your opponent’s monsters to become Dragons. Dragon Destroyer to force said monsters into Defence Mode and negate their effects. Dark Paladin to provide protection from spell cards. Use Decree to protect your monsters from cards like Mirror Force.

Eternal Soul/Dark Magic Attack/Thousand Knives

Eternal Soul is essential to this devastating combo. If you can dump Dark Magician into your Graveyard quickly you can Special Summon it at any point you need. Dark Magic Attack and Thousand Knives then allows you clear your opponent’s defences and weaken their monsters allowing you to set up your kill. This strategy is extremely effective against Pendulums if you can set it up quickly. Eternal Soul also allows to spam Dark Magicians so you can summon Dracossack very easily. Be sure to protect Eternal Soul if you use it though, because if it is destroyed, so are all your monsters. Dark Magician won’t be destroyed by card effects either as long as Eternal Soul is on the field, giving you a 2500 beater.