All hail Giratina!
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Deck Feature: "SOL Unity"
Been testing this for several months now. The decklist choices seem pretty nailed out by now and with Dragunitys hitting stateside it seemed like a good time to reveal it.
SOL Genesis reshaped by the release of Dragunitys. It plays completely different to the other build, and is far faster. Though to be honest I prefer how the other build plays.
Main Deck: 40
Monsters: 18
3 Blue-Eyes White Dragon
3 Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon
3 The White Stone of Legend
1 Dragunity Arms - Misteil
1 Red-Eyes Wyvern
1 Genesis Dragon
1 Dragunity Arms - Laevatein
2 Dragunity - Phalanx
2 Masked Dragon
1 Exploder Dragon
Spells: 15
1 Dark Hole
3 Cards of Consonance
3 Dragon Canyon
1 Future Fusion
1 Monster Reborn
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Giant Trunade
3 Trade-In
Traps: 7
2 Solemn Warning
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Mirror Force
Extra Deck: 15
1 Five-Headed Dragon
1 Magical Android
1 Ally of Justice Catastor
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Goyo Guardian
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Exploder Dragonwing
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Colossal Fighter
1 Dark End Dragon
1 Red Dragon Archfiend
1 Stardust Dragon
1 Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Trident Dragion
1 Red Nova Dragon
SOL Genesis reshaped by the release of Dragunitys. It plays completely different to the other build, and is far faster. Though to be honest I prefer how the other build plays.
Main Deck: 40
Monsters: 18
3 Blue-Eyes White Dragon
3 Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon
3 The White Stone of Legend
1 Dragunity Arms - Misteil
1 Red-Eyes Wyvern
1 Genesis Dragon
1 Dragunity Arms - Laevatein
2 Dragunity - Phalanx
2 Masked Dragon
1 Exploder Dragon
Spells: 15
1 Dark Hole
3 Cards of Consonance
3 Dragon Canyon
1 Future Fusion
1 Monster Reborn
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Giant Trunade
3 Trade-In
Traps: 7
2 Solemn Warning
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Mirror Force
Extra Deck: 15
1 Five-Headed Dragon
1 Magical Android
1 Ally of Justice Catastor
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Goyo Guardian
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Exploder Dragonwing
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Colossal Fighter
1 Dark End Dragon
1 Red Dragon Archfiend
1 Stardust Dragon
1 Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Trident Dragion
1 Red Nova Dragon
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Deck Analysis: "SOL Genesis"
SOL Genesis has been my deck for the past format and a half now, and its running pretty well. I've got 2 Tops with it so far, placing 4th and 2nd. The deck is a lot of fun and I've been getting a lot of pressure from dragon users on pojo to write up an article on the deck. So that is what I'm going to try and do today.
Main Deck: 40
Monsters: 20
2 Chaos Sorcerer
3 Blue-Eyes White Dragon
3 Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon
3 The White Stone of Legend
1 Dark Armed Dragon
1 Red-Eyes Wyvern
1 Genesis Dragon
1 Vice Dragon
1 Dread Dragon
2 Masked Dragon
1 Delta Flyer
1 Sangan
Spells: 13
2 Pot of Duality
1 Allure of Darkness
1 Dark Hole
2 Cards of Consonance
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Future Fusion
1 Monster Reborn
1 Giant Trunade
2 Trade-In
Traps: 7
1 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Seven Tools of the Bandit
2 Solemn Warning
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Mirror Force
Extra Deck: 15
1 Five-Headed Dragon
1 Magical Android
1 Ally of Justice Catastor
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Goyo Guardian
1 Arcanite Magician
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Exploder Dragonwing
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Colossal Fighter
1 Dark End Dragon
1 Red Dragon Archfiend
2 Stardust Dragon
1 Trident Dragion
SOL Genesis is a control deck. Its a much slower paced deck than any of the others you've seen on this blog and it plays an attrition game. It favours singular versatile monsters that can profit from maximum interaction with other cards in the deck, not individual combos. As a result you won't see it running cards like Super Rejuvenation that you might see in other decks carrying a similar draw engine. This deck can support it, yes, but its not a combo deck, its not explosive, it doesn't OTK anymore than say... Disaster Dragon, so you have nothing to accelerate your draw into, plus the deck benefits from controlling the tempo and pace of the duel, recycling with Genesis, etc. Combos, whilst neat, are not welcome here.
SOL Genesis then is a control deck which capitalizes off of the advantage given by White Stone of Legend. If you're reading my blog I'll assume you know about my past decks by now and my obsession with the little egg. Like SOL Dragon before it this deck revolves around the advantage engine Stone of Legend creates. Utilizing SOL and Genesis Dragon the deck aims to constantly maintain its resources as it controls the duel with dragons; forcing the opponent to expend resources while your plays pay for themselves. Genesis Dragon and Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon maintain the versatile outlets for your dragon options, be it special summoning for +s and field presence, draw combos, or even just maintaining viable options in your hand. Cards like Chaos Sorcerer, Dark Armed Dragon and Dark Hole aim to enforce your plays, establishing field control and allowing you to gain further pluses off spent Dragons. One of my favourite combos from SOL Dragon is tuning Stone of Legend to Chaos Sorcerer to make Arcanite Magician then raking in the advantage the play creates. This play carried over to SOL Genesis, and although it may not occur with the same frequency the move is devastating in its own right.
The deck wins by whittling the opponent out of resources and just amassing its advantage, virtually leaning on them until they lose. At any point you find they present an opening you can, of course, simply swarm them with dragons in a manner akin to previous SOL decks. Blue-Eyes fuels the draw engine that feeds the deck its resources, and benefits from SOL recruiting it in that it gives you pluses in advantage whilst also making the draw engine more dependable and consistent. Its also just an amazing 3000ATKer - when brought back via Darkness Metal its just a +1 so its fate doesn't really matter, it can cause some serious disruption if you catch your opponent off guard with it.
It is this +1 off Red-Eyes that is so important. Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon is the backbone of many dragon decks. In SOL Genesis its role is not as necessary as in past SOL decks to ease the summoning of big hitters, however, its still a powerful asset to the deck. More often than not you'll use its effect to revive smaller dragons, or Genesis itself. Blue-Eyes being brought back as a floater won't often happen until you need to establish a push for game or feel the need for an even bigger hitter than your standard 2800 can muster.
Genesis Dragon is imperative to the deck, and it is for Genesis Dragon that I actually made the deck itself. Because he looks like a Rathalos. And Rathalos is awesome. Dragons used to be renown for their ability to bypass summoning requirements, cheat tributing costs, and carrying some of the heaviest hitters in the game. Now, however, dragons carry 9 possible draw cards, more than any other deck in the game; Trade-In, Cards of Consonance and Super Rejuvenation. Dragons carry some of the most versatile targets for these cards, something later developed on by Dragunitys and Dragons Canyon. Genesis Dragon allows for recycling of Draw card targets, and despite the fact that I am against the inclusion of Super Rejuvenation in this deck also feeds its cost. Genesis Dragon ensures that you never run out of fodder for Cards of Consonance and Trade-In, both with its discard and recycle effect and with its more Pot of Avaricesque effect; one that is actually very useful in this deck. In older variants I ran triple Consonance and Trade-In with double Genesis Dragon. This worked, however, it also led to some clogged hands. By cutting the draw cards down to 2 copies each I was able to ensure that I could still benefit from Genesis' abilities whilst also gaining more fodder for its effect. Spent SOLs and Blue-Eyes still serve a purpose in this deck in acting as free fodder for Genesis to recur other dragons. I still really want a 2nd Genesis in there but my tribute count is beginning to run a bit high.
A single Red-Eyes Wyvern is more preference on my end. Dual Wyverns could work well if you find you have the space, however, I personally find it to be a subpar deck building tactic. I found when I was running Deep Draw that the better I got with the deck the less I relied upon Red-Eyes Wyvern. This is the case with most dragon builds, bar perhaps Disaster which has no better alternative at the moment, however, I really felt it in Deep Draw. This realization eventually spread over to SOL Dragon and has since influenced my stance of dragon deck building; that is that running Red-Eyes Wyvern for the sole sake of recurring Darkness Metal is an inconsistent deck building tactic bordering on a subpar play at best - it reeks of the fact that we dragon users have no better altnernative and is something that should not be relied upon consistently. We may have had no better alternative in previous formats, but now we have Monster Reborn back. Wyvern should not be maxed.
The flaw in Wyvern is that it only has 1 target in the ENTIRE deck. Even if you run 3 Darnkess Metal (which, you should) you still only have 1 target for your Wyvern. Sure you can recurr other Wyverns, but thats moronic. The flaw in Red-Eyes Wyvern is it forces reliance on Future Fusion and Red-Eyes Darkness Metal. Whilst those cards may be our power plays, it does not bode well to construct decks that rely so heavily upon them that when they are disabled the deck falls flat on its face. Without Darkness Metal in play all copies of Red-Eyes Wyvern are vanilla 1800ATK piles of crap. 1800ATK isn't even high anymore, its average, its Shura/Firedog/Laquari fodder, feeds none of your draw cards and ultimately serves no more purpose than a vanilla monster until you get a Darkness Metal into play.
Thus when constructing a deck maxing Wyverns should not be considered "staples" as such. You wouldn't run 3 Mezuki for the sake of 3 other zombies, the fact that dragons virtually have to run Wyvern for the sake of Darkness Metal shows the flaw in our limited cardpool. Which brings us back to my focus on Genesis Dragons importance in this deck and its lack of reliance upon Darkness Metal.
All of that said, I have found despite my abhorring that which Wyvern stands for dragons as of yet do not have a fully viable alternative to it, and Monster Reborn will only get us so far, and thus a single copy is included in my deck.
The rest of the deck is fairly standard. The trap lineup is huge due to this deck aiming for a much loner game. If the game draws out you're better off; your monsters are self replacing and Genesis can refuel your deck and hand. The traps allow you to control your opponents ability to remove your control of the board, and in doing so help you to even further establish it. Solemn Warnings are virtually staples this format and it is for that reason that I'm running a single Seven Tools of the Bandit.
I had thought about running Trap Stun for a while this format, however, in the end 7 Tools outshone it. Last format the deck sided, and then eventually mained dual Royal Oppression. With Oppressions in deck Trap Stun allowed for a versatile method of shutting out my opponents traps for the turn whilst also preventing them from stopping my Special Summons via Oppression. This format, however, with the trap line-up shifting towards Counter Traps and Royal Oppression outclassed by Solemn Warning I find Trap Stun to be vastly inferior to 7 Tools.
SOL Genesis is not an OTK deck so the chances of it pulling off an OTK are low, sure it can, but any deck can. It lacks monster effects to destroy the set cards so the traps are still going to be there the next turn (unless you tech Tiger Dragon), and it has to then be used in the standby phase to block Solemn Warnings, since if they go off Stun cannot be chained. This then means that my Solemn Warnings and Solemn Judgments are down for the turn preventing me from blocking any Quickplays, Monster Effects and Trago/Faders that could impede my push for field control/game that turn.
7 Tools on the other hand may only block 1 trap but it ends the chain there and then. Unless they 7 Tools or Solemn back nothing can be activated after it due to its Counter Trap powaaaa. It also removes the trap in question, can be used reactively after a Solemn Judgment or Warning whilst also blocking any other traps I may have issue with. It also means in the case of those counter traps that are so rampant now; they still pay the cost. That helps my push more than Trap Stun not going off any. Since this deck is a control deck based around attrition that is better for its overall goals and playstyle.
7 Tools is better than Trap Stun in SOL Genesis, just as Solemn Warning is better than Royal Oppression. Oppression was good last format, but now we have better cards to run. Though yes, if you can't afford Warnings then run Oppression and in that instance Trap Stun becomes more viable, however, you should aim to not be running either as the deck is stronger without them.
Pot of Duality is back in force once more; especially in light of the latest Duality ruling on its interaction with Future Fusion there is really no reason not to run this card. For those of you who missed out here it is; If you play Duality then you can still activate Future Fusion on that turn and vice versa. However, obviously you cannot activate Pot of Duality on the turn Five-Headed from Future Fusion is summoned, nor can you End Phase a Wyvern the turn you play a Duality.
Anyway, thats my deck with a little write up on it. It gets a wonderful overhaul with the release of Dragunitys so stay tuned for that one.
Main Deck: 40
Monsters: 20
2 Chaos Sorcerer
3 Blue-Eyes White Dragon
3 Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon
3 The White Stone of Legend
1 Dark Armed Dragon
1 Red-Eyes Wyvern
1 Genesis Dragon
1 Vice Dragon
1 Dread Dragon
2 Masked Dragon
1 Delta Flyer
1 Sangan
Spells: 13
2 Pot of Duality
1 Allure of Darkness
1 Dark Hole
2 Cards of Consonance
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Future Fusion
1 Monster Reborn
1 Giant Trunade
2 Trade-In
Traps: 7
1 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Seven Tools of the Bandit
2 Solemn Warning
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Mirror Force
Extra Deck: 15
1 Five-Headed Dragon
1 Magical Android
1 Ally of Justice Catastor
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Goyo Guardian
1 Arcanite Magician
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Exploder Dragonwing
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Colossal Fighter
1 Dark End Dragon
1 Red Dragon Archfiend
2 Stardust Dragon
1 Trident Dragion
SOL Genesis is a control deck. Its a much slower paced deck than any of the others you've seen on this blog and it plays an attrition game. It favours singular versatile monsters that can profit from maximum interaction with other cards in the deck, not individual combos. As a result you won't see it running cards like Super Rejuvenation that you might see in other decks carrying a similar draw engine. This deck can support it, yes, but its not a combo deck, its not explosive, it doesn't OTK anymore than say... Disaster Dragon, so you have nothing to accelerate your draw into, plus the deck benefits from controlling the tempo and pace of the duel, recycling with Genesis, etc. Combos, whilst neat, are not welcome here.
SOL Genesis then is a control deck which capitalizes off of the advantage given by White Stone of Legend. If you're reading my blog I'll assume you know about my past decks by now and my obsession with the little egg. Like SOL Dragon before it this deck revolves around the advantage engine Stone of Legend creates. Utilizing SOL and Genesis Dragon the deck aims to constantly maintain its resources as it controls the duel with dragons; forcing the opponent to expend resources while your plays pay for themselves. Genesis Dragon and Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon maintain the versatile outlets for your dragon options, be it special summoning for +s and field presence, draw combos, or even just maintaining viable options in your hand. Cards like Chaos Sorcerer, Dark Armed Dragon and Dark Hole aim to enforce your plays, establishing field control and allowing you to gain further pluses off spent Dragons. One of my favourite combos from SOL Dragon is tuning Stone of Legend to Chaos Sorcerer to make Arcanite Magician then raking in the advantage the play creates. This play carried over to SOL Genesis, and although it may not occur with the same frequency the move is devastating in its own right.
The deck wins by whittling the opponent out of resources and just amassing its advantage, virtually leaning on them until they lose. At any point you find they present an opening you can, of course, simply swarm them with dragons in a manner akin to previous SOL decks. Blue-Eyes fuels the draw engine that feeds the deck its resources, and benefits from SOL recruiting it in that it gives you pluses in advantage whilst also making the draw engine more dependable and consistent. Its also just an amazing 3000ATKer - when brought back via Darkness Metal its just a +1 so its fate doesn't really matter, it can cause some serious disruption if you catch your opponent off guard with it.
It is this +1 off Red-Eyes that is so important. Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon is the backbone of many dragon decks. In SOL Genesis its role is not as necessary as in past SOL decks to ease the summoning of big hitters, however, its still a powerful asset to the deck. More often than not you'll use its effect to revive smaller dragons, or Genesis itself. Blue-Eyes being brought back as a floater won't often happen until you need to establish a push for game or feel the need for an even bigger hitter than your standard 2800 can muster.
Genesis Dragon is imperative to the deck, and it is for Genesis Dragon that I actually made the deck itself. Because he looks like a Rathalos. And Rathalos is awesome. Dragons used to be renown for their ability to bypass summoning requirements, cheat tributing costs, and carrying some of the heaviest hitters in the game. Now, however, dragons carry 9 possible draw cards, more than any other deck in the game; Trade-In, Cards of Consonance and Super Rejuvenation. Dragons carry some of the most versatile targets for these cards, something later developed on by Dragunitys and Dragons Canyon. Genesis Dragon allows for recycling of Draw card targets, and despite the fact that I am against the inclusion of Super Rejuvenation in this deck also feeds its cost. Genesis Dragon ensures that you never run out of fodder for Cards of Consonance and Trade-In, both with its discard and recycle effect and with its more Pot of Avaricesque effect; one that is actually very useful in this deck. In older variants I ran triple Consonance and Trade-In with double Genesis Dragon. This worked, however, it also led to some clogged hands. By cutting the draw cards down to 2 copies each I was able to ensure that I could still benefit from Genesis' abilities whilst also gaining more fodder for its effect. Spent SOLs and Blue-Eyes still serve a purpose in this deck in acting as free fodder for Genesis to recur other dragons. I still really want a 2nd Genesis in there but my tribute count is beginning to run a bit high.
A single Red-Eyes Wyvern is more preference on my end. Dual Wyverns could work well if you find you have the space, however, I personally find it to be a subpar deck building tactic. I found when I was running Deep Draw that the better I got with the deck the less I relied upon Red-Eyes Wyvern. This is the case with most dragon builds, bar perhaps Disaster which has no better alternative at the moment, however, I really felt it in Deep Draw. This realization eventually spread over to SOL Dragon and has since influenced my stance of dragon deck building; that is that running Red-Eyes Wyvern for the sole sake of recurring Darkness Metal is an inconsistent deck building tactic bordering on a subpar play at best - it reeks of the fact that we dragon users have no better altnernative and is something that should not be relied upon consistently. We may have had no better alternative in previous formats, but now we have Monster Reborn back. Wyvern should not be maxed.
The flaw in Wyvern is that it only has 1 target in the ENTIRE deck. Even if you run 3 Darnkess Metal (which, you should) you still only have 1 target for your Wyvern. Sure you can recurr other Wyverns, but thats moronic. The flaw in Red-Eyes Wyvern is it forces reliance on Future Fusion and Red-Eyes Darkness Metal. Whilst those cards may be our power plays, it does not bode well to construct decks that rely so heavily upon them that when they are disabled the deck falls flat on its face. Without Darkness Metal in play all copies of Red-Eyes Wyvern are vanilla 1800ATK piles of crap. 1800ATK isn't even high anymore, its average, its Shura/Firedog/Laquari fodder, feeds none of your draw cards and ultimately serves no more purpose than a vanilla monster until you get a Darkness Metal into play.
Thus when constructing a deck maxing Wyverns should not be considered "staples" as such. You wouldn't run 3 Mezuki for the sake of 3 other zombies, the fact that dragons virtually have to run Wyvern for the sake of Darkness Metal shows the flaw in our limited cardpool. Which brings us back to my focus on Genesis Dragons importance in this deck and its lack of reliance upon Darkness Metal.
All of that said, I have found despite my abhorring that which Wyvern stands for dragons as of yet do not have a fully viable alternative to it, and Monster Reborn will only get us so far, and thus a single copy is included in my deck.
The rest of the deck is fairly standard. The trap lineup is huge due to this deck aiming for a much loner game. If the game draws out you're better off; your monsters are self replacing and Genesis can refuel your deck and hand. The traps allow you to control your opponents ability to remove your control of the board, and in doing so help you to even further establish it. Solemn Warnings are virtually staples this format and it is for that reason that I'm running a single Seven Tools of the Bandit.
I had thought about running Trap Stun for a while this format, however, in the end 7 Tools outshone it. Last format the deck sided, and then eventually mained dual Royal Oppression. With Oppressions in deck Trap Stun allowed for a versatile method of shutting out my opponents traps for the turn whilst also preventing them from stopping my Special Summons via Oppression. This format, however, with the trap line-up shifting towards Counter Traps and Royal Oppression outclassed by Solemn Warning I find Trap Stun to be vastly inferior to 7 Tools.
SOL Genesis is not an OTK deck so the chances of it pulling off an OTK are low, sure it can, but any deck can. It lacks monster effects to destroy the set cards so the traps are still going to be there the next turn (unless you tech Tiger Dragon), and it has to then be used in the standby phase to block Solemn Warnings, since if they go off Stun cannot be chained. This then means that my Solemn Warnings and Solemn Judgments are down for the turn preventing me from blocking any Quickplays, Monster Effects and Trago/Faders that could impede my push for field control/game that turn.
7 Tools on the other hand may only block 1 trap but it ends the chain there and then. Unless they 7 Tools or Solemn back nothing can be activated after it due to its Counter Trap powaaaa. It also removes the trap in question, can be used reactively after a Solemn Judgment or Warning whilst also blocking any other traps I may have issue with. It also means in the case of those counter traps that are so rampant now; they still pay the cost. That helps my push more than Trap Stun not going off any. Since this deck is a control deck based around attrition that is better for its overall goals and playstyle.
7 Tools is better than Trap Stun in SOL Genesis, just as Solemn Warning is better than Royal Oppression. Oppression was good last format, but now we have better cards to run. Though yes, if you can't afford Warnings then run Oppression and in that instance Trap Stun becomes more viable, however, you should aim to not be running either as the deck is stronger without them.
Pot of Duality is back in force once more; especially in light of the latest Duality ruling on its interaction with Future Fusion there is really no reason not to run this card. For those of you who missed out here it is; If you play Duality then you can still activate Future Fusion on that turn and vice versa. However, obviously you cannot activate Pot of Duality on the turn Five-Headed from Future Fusion is summoned, nor can you End Phase a Wyvern the turn you play a Duality.
Anyway, thats my deck with a little write up on it. It gets a wonderful overhaul with the release of Dragunitys so stay tuned for that one.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Dragons Top 16 at YCS San Jose
This is old news by now for most, just thought I'd spread the word a little more.
William Miller (Top 32 – Dragons)
Monsters: 20
3 Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon
3 Red-Eyes Wyvern
3 Delta Flyer
2 Totem Dragon
2 Exploder Dragon
3 Masked Dragon
1 Yamata Dragon
1 Light and Darkness Dragon
1 Vice Dragon
1 Prime Material Dragon
Spells: 12
1 Gold Sarcophagus
1 Burial from a Different Dimension
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 My Body as a Shield
1 Giant Trunade
1 Future Fusion
1 Dark Hole
1 Foolish Burial
1 Monster Reborn
2 Book of Moon
Traps: 8
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Royal Oppression
2 Burst Breath
1 Solemn Judgment
Side Deck: 15
1 Consecrated Light
1 Pulling the Rug
1 Mind Crush
1 Koa’ki Meiru Drago
1 Light-Imprisoning Mirror
1 Malevolent Catastrophe
1 Dust Tornado
1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
1 Nobleman of Crossout
1 Battle Fader
1 Marshmallon
1 System Down
1 Enemy Controller
1 Starlight Road
1 Trap Stun
Extra Deck: 15
1 Armory Arm
1 Magical Android
1 Goyo Guardian
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Exploder Dragonwing
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Stardust Dragon
1 Red Dragon Archfiend
1 Thought Ruler Archfiend
1 Colossal Fighter
1 Mist Wurm
1 Trident Dragion
1 Five-Headed Dragon
1 Iron Chain Dragon
Source.
S/T and Extra lineup look fairly standard. The monster lineup stands out due to obvious playset of Delta Flyers, lack of Dread and the inclusion of both LaDD and Yamata, which is uncommon. A single Vice is also an interesting move. One I doubt would have an apparent effect over dual copies, which I still prefer. No Koa'ki Meiru Drago mained is to be expected. And a move Ithquentbvare of Pojo.com has been urging Dragon Players to make for months now.
The side deck is where it gets trippy. That thing is a mess. And quite frankly; bad. Its designed for single swap exchanges with the main deck and isn't built to effectively deal with present metagame problems. It does lend the deck versatility in the way it sides, but also limits its response ability thus leading to the inevitable defeat in the top32 once he got into facing good players. The side does make sense from a maindeck perspective, but for a side decks purposes its a bad move, I feel.
William Miller (Top 32 – Dragons)
Monsters: 20
3 Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon
3 Red-Eyes Wyvern
3 Delta Flyer
2 Totem Dragon
2 Exploder Dragon
3 Masked Dragon
1 Yamata Dragon
1 Light and Darkness Dragon
1 Vice Dragon
1 Prime Material Dragon
Spells: 12
1 Gold Sarcophagus
1 Burial from a Different Dimension
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 My Body as a Shield
1 Giant Trunade
1 Future Fusion
1 Dark Hole
1 Foolish Burial
1 Monster Reborn
2 Book of Moon
Traps: 8
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Royal Oppression
2 Burst Breath
1 Solemn Judgment
Side Deck: 15
1 Consecrated Light
1 Pulling the Rug
1 Mind Crush
1 Koa’ki Meiru Drago
1 Light-Imprisoning Mirror
1 Malevolent Catastrophe
1 Dust Tornado
1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
1 Nobleman of Crossout
1 Battle Fader
1 Marshmallon
1 System Down
1 Enemy Controller
1 Starlight Road
1 Trap Stun
Extra Deck: 15
1 Armory Arm
1 Magical Android
1 Goyo Guardian
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Exploder Dragonwing
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Stardust Dragon
1 Red Dragon Archfiend
1 Thought Ruler Archfiend
1 Colossal Fighter
1 Mist Wurm
1 Trident Dragion
1 Five-Headed Dragon
1 Iron Chain Dragon
Source.
S/T and Extra lineup look fairly standard. The monster lineup stands out due to obvious playset of Delta Flyers, lack of Dread and the inclusion of both LaDD and Yamata, which is uncommon. A single Vice is also an interesting move. One I doubt would have an apparent effect over dual copies, which I still prefer. No Koa'ki Meiru Drago mained is to be expected. And a move Ithquentbvare of Pojo.com has been urging Dragon Players to make for months now.
The side deck is where it gets trippy. That thing is a mess. And quite frankly; bad. Its designed for single swap exchanges with the main deck and isn't built to effectively deal with present metagame problems. It does lend the deck versatility in the way it sides, but also limits its response ability thus leading to the inevitable defeat in the top32 once he got into facing good players. The side does make sense from a maindeck perspective, but for a side decks purposes its a bad move, I feel.
Deck Analysis: "Dragunity!"
Dragunitys have long been a favourite deck of mine. Even before SOL Dragon I was running the basic Dragunitys in the OCG. Back in the days when triple Tribus was considered almost mandatory, followed up by Icarus Attack plays. Gadaerg was the best of the Dragunity Knights and the spoiler for Cards of Consonance was giving us nerd-gasms.
You know, all that fun nostalgic stuff people feel about a deck they used to play. Anyway Dragunitys recently got an overhaul, and by recently I mean, as of about 6 months ago. I promised the boys back on pojo I'd write an article and put it off until Jason wrote one on TCG Player. Given his article outlined the basics of Dragunity play I figured there was no longer a need for me to write one, but formats change and JDGloom's article is now several sets and a banlist out of date. Given that the TCG is about to get Dragunitys in Starstrike Blast and Hidden Arsenal 3 I figured now would be a good time to write a short spiel for the TCG dragon players who do not yet understand how the Dragunity deck works.
The decklist I'll be posting is the present deck I'm running, which means it runs Dragon Canyon a card dragon players should know all about. If you don't, follow the link in its name and learn about it quickly; in short its a searchable dumping engine for dragons that can be run in triplicate. Now Dragon Canyon and the Dragunity Arms series may not be the Dragunity promos being released in Starstrike Blast, but even if they aren't the fact that the Dragunitys are coming out in HA03 means they will not be very far behind, thus I feel this deck is appropriate. This decklist is built for the TCG metagame, not the OCG one just as a bit of a disclaimer. And cue decklist.
Main Deck: 40
Monsters: 18
3 Dragunity - Phalanx
3 Dragunity - Dux
3 Dragunity - Legionnaire
3 Dragunity - Arms Laevatein
2 Dragunity - Arms Misteil
3 Dragunity - Aklys
1 Morphing Jar
Spells: 16
1 Dark Hole
1 Monster Reborn
3 Dragon Canyon
3 Cards of Consonance
2 Pot of Duality
1 Pot of Avarice
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
2 Book of Moon
1 Foolish Burial
Traps: 6
1Mirror Force
1 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Torrential Tribute
2 Solemn Warning
1 Solemn Judgment
Extra Deck: 15
3 Dragunity Knight - Vajuranda
1 Dragunity Knight - Gadearg
1 Dragunity Knight - Gáe Bulg
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Ally of Justice Catastor
1 Magical Android
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Goyo Guardian
1 Stardust Dragon
1 Red Dragon Archfiend
1 Scrap Dragon
2 Trident Dragion
Pojo Deck Link.
This build should look fairly familiar by now for those of you who are familiar with Dragunitys. Dragunitys have a solid skeleton that everyone tends to stick to and it actually originated in several points; I can remember constructing this build on DMG before the cards came out (minus DREV stuff) and then running over to Bubbledee on the Dragunity forums on Pojo who had an extremely similar build. Then a few weeks later Jason posted his build on TCG Player and again the lineups were virtually the same with only minor tech differences. If you follow the link to my deck on pojo you'll see its been posted for over a year; very little has changed to the inherent skeleton. Dragunitys are quite solid in the way they build themselves. Some people see this as a downside as Konami is effectively telling people how to build their decks, I prefer to think of it as a sign of a coherent theme. Over a year and very minor deck changes is a good sign of a strong skeleton. Its also a sign of being ignored by the banlist.
Dragunitys play very Junk and Debris; you set up the Dragon-Tuner (Generally Phalanx) summon the Dux/Legionnaire and then go from there; Dux leads into level 6 Synchros; if you elect for Vajuranda as your synchro that then leads to a level 8, whilst Legionnaire can either act as monster destruction or go for a level 5.
Those are your most basic plays with the deck. Legionnaire gets more explosive when equipped with an Aklys and his floating without a tuner makes him prime fodder for those of you who run Icarus Attack still; or to send to the grave for a Dragunity Arms - Misteil.
Misteil is awesome. A walking level 6 monster that can capitalize on any lone Dragunity you have on the field; even going so far as to normal summon Phalanx, send it to the grave for a Misteil Special Summon and then equipping it to it to Sync for a level 8 is a viable play. Not a recommended one in most circumstances due to the minus in advantage, but its still a versatile outlet of use for Misteil. Naturally Misteil is best used after a Legionnaire play via Aklys: Summmon Legionnaire, equip Aklys, send Aklys, proceed to +2. Send Legionnaire for Misteil, equip with Phalanx, SS Phalanx, beat face. You know, basic Dragunity tricks.
Dragunitys are all about field control and synchro spam. Because of their grave tricks they can very easily drop a Synchro of any level between 5 and 10 for the cost of a Normal Summon. Yes. I said 10. That 10 is a Trident Dragion. The Dragunitys OTK asset.
Trident Dragion is made possible through the incredible power that is Dragunity Arms Laevatein (DAL). Now, these days its actually quite common to only run 1 Laevatein. The general opinion is that hes a heavy monster that can't capitalize of Aklys effect. Now, the flaw in this is simple; when Dragunitys were first revealed a few TCG players got it in their heads that Aklys wouldn't abide by basic Equip destruction rules, I blame the fact that because we have so few competitive equips people have forgotten the basics of how they function. Anyway, they felt that Aklys could blow up when the monster to which it was equipped was removed for DALs summon, thus upon the ruling that it could not (apparently this was a big problem) it was perceived as a "nerfing" instead of the clarification that it was. This resulted in a percieved "loss" of power in DAL thus the card was cut in quantity.
I can understand the stance of not wanting to run 3 heavy monsters, however, I respectfully disagree; Dragunity Arms Laevatein is a 3 or 0 card. This is because it is not through Aklys that it gains its power, but through Phalanx. You see DAL carries with itself the same effect as Dux, Legionnaire and Misteil, while normally a level 8 monster having that effect is useless when paired with a tuner DAL also happens to be a Dragon. 2+8=Trident Dragion. This is the Dragunity OTK, and the reason for which I run 3.
You see 1 copy is simply not reliable. Sure its dumpable via Canyon; at the cost of a -1, but you won't reliably pull the OTK off as often as if you run 3. Because Laevatein can special summon himself from the hand or grave with his own effect it will very rarely be dead in hand; in fact, you more often than not SHOULD NOT summon it from the hand. This may sound contradictory; I said I wanted to run 3 so I could draw them, but I have no interest in summoning them from the hand. Its not, and by now I'm sure you know its not. Because of 1 card; Dragon Canyon.
You pitch the DAL for Canyon. You Draw it, you pitch it, and when the opportunity shows itself you go for the jugular with Trident Dragion.
Dragunity decks running only 1 copy of DAL can't do this. They have to set up the OTK. Given the sole copy of DAL this requires more investment in the longrun and in the middle of a duel thats not always possible. Running more copies of DAL gives you more options, whilst not hampering you at all thanks to the Dragon Canyon. It also allows you to put pressure on your opponent; if they can see that they can be OTKed at any time they're going to play differently. If its more conservatively you can punish them via Legionnaire+Aklys tactics, if its more aggressively you can outmuscule them. Of course if they don't see the OTK then you can just catch them off guard. 1 card in hand turns into a Trident Dragion with 2 attacks if you've got a DAL in grave and a Canyon in play. Surprise ending.
Of course I should talk about Canyon, but I really don't feel I need to. Its a Field Spell, so its searchable via Terraforming. Its a Field Spell, so it sticks around. And as long as its in play any card in hand turns into a Dragunity. Thats searchable Consonance fodder, thats searchable monster removal, thats searchable level 8 Synchro monsters. Of course discarding eats up hand advantage, which is why I'm running Morphing Jar. You don't overextend with Dragunitys, but you do play out a lot of cards. Jar helps you recoup that advantage. Avarice recycles spent bird Dragunitys so you can re-search them with Canyon, etc. The rest of the deck is really self-explanatory.
The reason I'm not running Terraforming is because I'm running Pot of Duality. I realize they don't serve the same purpose, however, in principle and play I find Duality to be the stronger card. Dragon Canyon is powerful in this deck, and needed. It turns the deck into a Synchro engine, and without it the deck often falls flat on its face; Dragunitys are a glass cannon. They are powerful, versatile and reactive, however it is Canyon that gives them the speed and consistency to maintain pace with tier 1 decks, thus without Canyon they fall behind. This is not to say that they are incapable of winning, however, it is a severe disadvantage to be playing without a Canyon and in the Dragunity Mirror he who controls the Canyon, controls the game.
This also ties into why I find triple DAL so imperative; because of the fragility of the deck you need to not only seize opportunities for game but also capitalize on your ability to take game at the drop of a hat. But I've been side tracked. I was explaining why I run Duality over Terraforming; Terraforming provides searchability for Dragon Canyon, allowing easy access to your ace card; and thanks to Canyons effect Terraforming can virtually never be dead; if you have a Field Spell in play then Terraforming turns into the discard fodder for its effect. Granted thats not to mean it isn't ever dead. Its still a wasted draw and the Canyon is still costing you a card in hand. By running higher utility cards than Terraforming the deck can ensure it has useful draws whilst Canyon is out.
Pot of Duality I find is more beneficial because it can give access not just to Canyon, but also to other cards in my deck. Pot of Duality makes my opening hands stronger, lets me dig into single copies faster and more consistently; helping with the fluidity of the deck, I consider it a more versatile form of Terraforming. At the cost of a Special Summon for the turn I also gain the ability to search out cards other than my Field Spell. If its not beneficial to play Duality that turn, I just hold it, or discard it. Granted, this is not to say it has to be either or, I'm certain people will run both, and in fact, I too may do so in a later version of this deck.
Dragunitys are a powerful and versatile deck. They're incredibly fun and with their imminent release I predict a lot of Dragunity decks cropping up in tournament standings.
Anyway, enjoy the deck.
You know, all that fun nostalgic stuff people feel about a deck they used to play. Anyway Dragunitys recently got an overhaul, and by recently I mean, as of about 6 months ago. I promised the boys back on pojo I'd write an article and put it off until Jason wrote one on TCG Player. Given his article outlined the basics of Dragunity play I figured there was no longer a need for me to write one, but formats change and JDGloom's article is now several sets and a banlist out of date. Given that the TCG is about to get Dragunitys in Starstrike Blast and Hidden Arsenal 3 I figured now would be a good time to write a short spiel for the TCG dragon players who do not yet understand how the Dragunity deck works.
The decklist I'll be posting is the present deck I'm running, which means it runs Dragon Canyon a card dragon players should know all about. If you don't, follow the link in its name and learn about it quickly; in short its a searchable dumping engine for dragons that can be run in triplicate. Now Dragon Canyon and the Dragunity Arms series may not be the Dragunity promos being released in Starstrike Blast, but even if they aren't the fact that the Dragunitys are coming out in HA03 means they will not be very far behind, thus I feel this deck is appropriate. This decklist is built for the TCG metagame, not the OCG one just as a bit of a disclaimer. And cue decklist.
Main Deck: 40
Monsters: 18
3 Dragunity - Phalanx
3 Dragunity - Dux
3 Dragunity - Legionnaire
3 Dragunity - Arms Laevatein
2 Dragunity - Arms Misteil
3 Dragunity - Aklys
1 Morphing Jar
Spells: 16
1 Dark Hole
1 Monster Reborn
3 Dragon Canyon
3 Cards of Consonance
2 Pot of Duality
1 Pot of Avarice
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
2 Book of Moon
1 Foolish Burial
Traps: 6
1Mirror Force
1 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Torrential Tribute
2 Solemn Warning
1 Solemn Judgment
Extra Deck: 15
3 Dragunity Knight - Vajuranda
1 Dragunity Knight - Gadearg
1 Dragunity Knight - Gáe Bulg
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Ally of Justice Catastor
1 Magical Android
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Goyo Guardian
1 Stardust Dragon
1 Red Dragon Archfiend
1 Scrap Dragon
2 Trident Dragion
Pojo Deck Link.
This build should look fairly familiar by now for those of you who are familiar with Dragunitys. Dragunitys have a solid skeleton that everyone tends to stick to and it actually originated in several points; I can remember constructing this build on DMG before the cards came out (minus DREV stuff) and then running over to Bubbledee on the Dragunity forums on Pojo who had an extremely similar build. Then a few weeks later Jason posted his build on TCG Player and again the lineups were virtually the same with only minor tech differences. If you follow the link to my deck on pojo you'll see its been posted for over a year; very little has changed to the inherent skeleton. Dragunitys are quite solid in the way they build themselves. Some people see this as a downside as Konami is effectively telling people how to build their decks, I prefer to think of it as a sign of a coherent theme. Over a year and very minor deck changes is a good sign of a strong skeleton. Its also a sign of being ignored by the banlist.
Dragunitys play very Junk and Debris; you set up the Dragon-Tuner (Generally Phalanx) summon the Dux/Legionnaire and then go from there; Dux leads into level 6 Synchros; if you elect for Vajuranda as your synchro that then leads to a level 8, whilst Legionnaire can either act as monster destruction or go for a level 5.
Those are your most basic plays with the deck. Legionnaire gets more explosive when equipped with an Aklys and his floating without a tuner makes him prime fodder for those of you who run Icarus Attack still; or to send to the grave for a Dragunity Arms - Misteil.
Misteil is awesome. A walking level 6 monster that can capitalize on any lone Dragunity you have on the field; even going so far as to normal summon Phalanx, send it to the grave for a Misteil Special Summon and then equipping it to it to Sync for a level 8 is a viable play. Not a recommended one in most circumstances due to the minus in advantage, but its still a versatile outlet of use for Misteil. Naturally Misteil is best used after a Legionnaire play via Aklys: Summmon Legionnaire, equip Aklys, send Aklys, proceed to +2. Send Legionnaire for Misteil, equip with Phalanx, SS Phalanx, beat face. You know, basic Dragunity tricks.
Dragunitys are all about field control and synchro spam. Because of their grave tricks they can very easily drop a Synchro of any level between 5 and 10 for the cost of a Normal Summon. Yes. I said 10. That 10 is a Trident Dragion. The Dragunitys OTK asset.
Trident Dragion is made possible through the incredible power that is Dragunity Arms Laevatein (DAL). Now, these days its actually quite common to only run 1 Laevatein. The general opinion is that hes a heavy monster that can't capitalize of Aklys effect. Now, the flaw in this is simple; when Dragunitys were first revealed a few TCG players got it in their heads that Aklys wouldn't abide by basic Equip destruction rules, I blame the fact that because we have so few competitive equips people have forgotten the basics of how they function. Anyway, they felt that Aklys could blow up when the monster to which it was equipped was removed for DALs summon, thus upon the ruling that it could not (apparently this was a big problem) it was perceived as a "nerfing" instead of the clarification that it was. This resulted in a percieved "loss" of power in DAL thus the card was cut in quantity.
I can understand the stance of not wanting to run 3 heavy monsters, however, I respectfully disagree; Dragunity Arms Laevatein is a 3 or 0 card. This is because it is not through Aklys that it gains its power, but through Phalanx. You see DAL carries with itself the same effect as Dux, Legionnaire and Misteil, while normally a level 8 monster having that effect is useless when paired with a tuner DAL also happens to be a Dragon. 2+8=Trident Dragion. This is the Dragunity OTK, and the reason for which I run 3.
You see 1 copy is simply not reliable. Sure its dumpable via Canyon; at the cost of a -1, but you won't reliably pull the OTK off as often as if you run 3. Because Laevatein can special summon himself from the hand or grave with his own effect it will very rarely be dead in hand; in fact, you more often than not SHOULD NOT summon it from the hand. This may sound contradictory; I said I wanted to run 3 so I could draw them, but I have no interest in summoning them from the hand. Its not, and by now I'm sure you know its not. Because of 1 card; Dragon Canyon.
You pitch the DAL for Canyon. You Draw it, you pitch it, and when the opportunity shows itself you go for the jugular with Trident Dragion.
Dragunity decks running only 1 copy of DAL can't do this. They have to set up the OTK. Given the sole copy of DAL this requires more investment in the longrun and in the middle of a duel thats not always possible. Running more copies of DAL gives you more options, whilst not hampering you at all thanks to the Dragon Canyon. It also allows you to put pressure on your opponent; if they can see that they can be OTKed at any time they're going to play differently. If its more conservatively you can punish them via Legionnaire+Aklys tactics, if its more aggressively you can outmuscule them. Of course if they don't see the OTK then you can just catch them off guard. 1 card in hand turns into a Trident Dragion with 2 attacks if you've got a DAL in grave and a Canyon in play. Surprise ending.
Of course I should talk about Canyon, but I really don't feel I need to. Its a Field Spell, so its searchable via Terraforming. Its a Field Spell, so it sticks around. And as long as its in play any card in hand turns into a Dragunity. Thats searchable Consonance fodder, thats searchable monster removal, thats searchable level 8 Synchro monsters. Of course discarding eats up hand advantage, which is why I'm running Morphing Jar. You don't overextend with Dragunitys, but you do play out a lot of cards. Jar helps you recoup that advantage. Avarice recycles spent bird Dragunitys so you can re-search them with Canyon, etc. The rest of the deck is really self-explanatory.
The reason I'm not running Terraforming is because I'm running Pot of Duality. I realize they don't serve the same purpose, however, in principle and play I find Duality to be the stronger card. Dragon Canyon is powerful in this deck, and needed. It turns the deck into a Synchro engine, and without it the deck often falls flat on its face; Dragunitys are a glass cannon. They are powerful, versatile and reactive, however it is Canyon that gives them the speed and consistency to maintain pace with tier 1 decks, thus without Canyon they fall behind. This is not to say that they are incapable of winning, however, it is a severe disadvantage to be playing without a Canyon and in the Dragunity Mirror he who controls the Canyon, controls the game.
This also ties into why I find triple DAL so imperative; because of the fragility of the deck you need to not only seize opportunities for game but also capitalize on your ability to take game at the drop of a hat. But I've been side tracked. I was explaining why I run Duality over Terraforming; Terraforming provides searchability for Dragon Canyon, allowing easy access to your ace card; and thanks to Canyons effect Terraforming can virtually never be dead; if you have a Field Spell in play then Terraforming turns into the discard fodder for its effect. Granted thats not to mean it isn't ever dead. Its still a wasted draw and the Canyon is still costing you a card in hand. By running higher utility cards than Terraforming the deck can ensure it has useful draws whilst Canyon is out.
Pot of Duality I find is more beneficial because it can give access not just to Canyon, but also to other cards in my deck. Pot of Duality makes my opening hands stronger, lets me dig into single copies faster and more consistently; helping with the fluidity of the deck, I consider it a more versatile form of Terraforming. At the cost of a Special Summon for the turn I also gain the ability to search out cards other than my Field Spell. If its not beneficial to play Duality that turn, I just hold it, or discard it. Granted, this is not to say it has to be either or, I'm certain people will run both, and in fact, I too may do so in a later version of this deck.
Dragunitys are a powerful and versatile deck. They're incredibly fun and with their imminent release I predict a lot of Dragunity decks cropping up in tournament standings.
For people who can't be bothered reading through this entire post here is a quick summary of some basic Dragunity combos:
- Legionnaire + Aklys = 1 Monster and 1 Card destroyed.
- Legionnaire + Phalanx = Catastor/ Tech Genus Hyper Librarian.
- Legionnaire floating = Mystletainn Summon.
- Mystletainn + Phalanx = Level 8.
- Mystletainn + Brandistock = 2100 dual attacker, sometimes this is better than a level 8; thats 4200 damage.
- Using Aklys to summon Mystletainn or Leyvaten from the hand with its first effect; they miss the timing on their equip, but are immune to Bottomless Trap Hole and Torrential Tribute.
- Dux + Phalanx = Level 6 Synchro.
- Dux + Brandistock = 1900 dual attacking 4 star, that can be really brutal. Especially against a heavy backrow where a Synchro climb is a weaker choice.
- Dearg: It sets up the deck.
- Vajrayana + Aklys = 3800ATK + 1 card destroyed.
- Vajrayana + Phalanx = Level 8 Synchro.
- Vajrayana + Brandistock = 1900 dual attacker (I'd just stick with Dux since it gains further ATK, this is a play I've never seen tbh).
- Leyvaten + Phalanx = Trident Dragion
- Leyvaten + Brandistock = 2600 dual attacker, in situations where you are low on advantage or Trident Dragion is risky this can be better than going into Trident. Considering Leyvaten can pop out of the graveyard for the cost of a Normal Summon its a pretty amazing play.
- Dragon Ravine searches all Cards of Consonance targets as well as Legionnaire and Dux, it can also dump Leyvaten. I run 2-3 Mystletainn because it can't be searched via Ravine.
Anyway, enjoy the deck.
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