Dragons Top 16 at YCS Paris

Two Disaster Dragon decks piloted by Kim Just Jensen and Lormier Josse and a Dragunity deck piloted by Merlin Schumacher made it into the Top 32 at the Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series in Paris this week.

Both Disaster decks made it into the Top 16 and so I'll post their decklists here.

Kim Just Jensen (Disaster Dragon)
Monsters: 18
1 Light and Darkness Dragon
2 Koa'ki Meiru Drago
3 Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon
3 Red-Eyes Wyvern
1 Exploder Dragon
1 Totem Dragon
2 Delta Flyer
2 Mirage Dragon
3 Masked Dragon

Spells: 13
3 Pot of Duality
1 Future Fusion
2 Gold Sarcophagus
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Monster Reborn
1 Dark Hole
1 Giant Trunade
1 Book of Moon
1 Forbidden Lance

Traps: 9
2 Solemn Warning
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Mirror Force
2 Dimensional Prison
2 Dust Tornado

Extra Deck: 15
2 Stardust Dragon
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Ally of Justice Catastor
1 Trident Dragion
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Thought Ruler Archfiend
1 Exploder Dragonwing
1 XX-Saber Hyunlei
1 Armory Arm
1 Colossal Fighter
1 Chain Disappearance
1 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon
1 Five-Headed Dragon

Side Deck: 15
2 Effect Veiler
2 Cyber Dragon
1 Kinetic Soldier
1 Koa'ki Meiru Drago
1 Mind Control
1 Burial from a Different Dimension
2 Nobleman of Crossout
1 Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Chain Disappearance
2 Rivalry of Warlords

~~~

Lormier Josse (Disaster Dragon)
Monsters: 20
3 Koa'ki Meiru Drago
3 Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon
3 Red-Eyes Wyvern
1 Exploder Dragon
2 Totem Dragon
1 Vice Dragon
1 Dread Dragon
1 Delta Flyer
1 Prime Material Dragon
1 Yamata Dragon
3 Masked Dragon

Spells: 11
1 Pot of Duality
1 Future Fusion
2 Gold Sarcophagus
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Monster Reborn
1 Dark Hole
1 Giant Trunade
2 Forbidden Lance

Traps: 9
2 Burst Breath
2 Solemn Warning
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Mirror Force
1 Royal Oppression
1 Mind Crush

Extra Deck: 15
1 Magical Android
1 Ally of Justice Catastor
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
2 Black Rose Dragon
1 Ancient Fairy Dragon
1 Exploder Dragonwing
2 Stardust Dragon
1 Dark End Dragon
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Red Dragon Archfiend
1 Trident Dragion
1 Five-Headed Dragon
1 Thought Ruler Archfiend

Side Deck: 15
1 Thunder King Rai-Oh
1 Maxx “C”
1 D.D. Crow
2 Puppet Plant
2 Noblemon of Extermination
2 Nobleman of Crossout
2 Dust Tornado
2 Chain Disappearance
2 Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror

Source.

Dragunity Top 32 at YCS Anaheim

Once again 2 Dragunity decks piloted by Alberto Gonzalez and Anthony Eckroth managed to break into the top 32 at YCS Anaheim this weekend.

Alberto Gonzalez (Top 32 – Dragunity)
Monsters: 14
2 Dragunity Aklys
3 Dragunity Dux
3 Dragunity Legionnaire
3 Dragunity Phalanx
2 Effect Veiler
1 Malefic Stardust Dragon

Spells: 17
1 Pot of Avarice
2 Cards of Consonance
1 Book of Moon
1 Giant Trunade
1 Dark Hole
1 Mind Control
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Pot of Duality
1 Monster Reborn
3 Terraforming
3 Dragon Ravine

Traps: 10
2 Solemn Warning
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Dimensional Prison
1 Royal Oppression
1 Seven Tools of the Bandit
1 Mirror Force
1 Trap Dustshoot

Extra Deck: 15
3 Stardust Dragon
1 Thought Ruler Archfiend
3 Dragunity Knight – Vajrayana
2 Scrap Dragon
1 Ally of Justice Catastor
1 Trident Dragion
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Magical Android
1 Red Dragon Archfiend

Side Deck: 15
2 Cyber Dragon
2 Puppet Plant
2 Royal Decree
2 Nobleman of Crossout
2 Dust Tornado
1 Mask of Restrict
2 Chain Disappearance
2 Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror

~~~~~

Anthony Eckroth (Top 32 – Dragunity)
Monsters: 13
3 Dragunity Dux
3 Dragunity Legionnaire
3 Dragunity Phalanx
2 Dragunity Aklys
2 Effect Veiler

Spells: 16
3 Dragon Ravine
3 Terraforming
3 Cards of Consonance
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Dark Hole
1 Giant Trunade
1 Monster Reborn
1 Book of Moon
1 Pot of Avarice

Traps: 11
2 Solemn Warning
2 Seven Tools of the Bandit
2 Dimensional Prison
1 Trap Dustshoot
1 Mind Crush
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Mirror Force

Extra Deck: 15
3 Dragunity Knight – Vajrayana
1 Dragunity Knight – Gae Bulg
2 Stardust Dragon
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Trident Dragion
1 Thought Ruler Archfiend
1 Magical Android
1 Colossal Fighter
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Gaia Knight, the Force of Earth
1 Ally of Justice Catastor

Side Deck: 15
2 Kinetic Soldier
2 Puppet Plant
2 Banisher of the Radiance
2 Nobleman of Crossout
1 Royal Oppression
2 Dust Tornado
2 Mask of Restrict
2 Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror

Source.

Dragunity Top 32 at YCS Charlotte

Dragunity decks piloted by Jerry Williams and Frazier Smith managed to break into the top 32 at YCS Charlotte this weekend. Of the two Dragunity users Frazier Smith went on to the top 16 before losing out to Fish OTK. You can find their decklists on the Konami website, but I'll also be posting them here as well as some comments by Frazier Smith on his Dragunity build as he gave on DGZ.

Jerry Williams (Dragunity)
Monsters: 13
2 Effect Veiler
2 Dragunity Aklys
3 Dragunity Phalanx
3 Dragunity Dux
3 Dragunity Legionnaire

Spells: 16
1 Dark Hole
1 Monster Reborn
1 Giant Trunade
2 Pot of Avarice
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
2 Cards of Consonance
3 Terraforming
3 Dragon Ravine
1 Book of Moon

Traps: 11
2 Solemn Warning
2 Dimensional Prison
2 Icarus Attack
1 Mirror Force
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Royal Oppression
1 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Compulsory Evacuation Device

Extra Deck: 15
1 Ally of Justice Catastor
1 Magical Android
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
3 Dragunity Knight – Vajrayana
1 Dragunity Knight – Gae Dearg
1 Black Rose Dragon
2 Stardust Dragon
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Red Dragon Archfiend
1 Colossal Fighter
1 Thought Ruler Archfiend
1 Trident Dragion

Side Deck: 15
1 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon
2 Smashing Ground
2 Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo
2 Cyber Dragon
3 Hero’s Rule 2
2 Malevolent Catastrophe
2 Gozen Match
1 D.D. Crow

~~~~~

Frazier Smith (Dragunity)
Monsters: 13
3 Dragunity Phalanx
3 Dragunity Dux
3 Dragunity Legionnaire
2 Dragunity Aklys
2 Effect Veiler

Spells: 16
3 Terraforming
3 Dragon Ravine
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Dark Hole
1 Giant Trunade
1 Book of Moon
1 Monster Reborn
1 Pot of Avarice
2 Cards of Consonance
1 Pot of Duality

Traps: 11
2 Seven Tools of the Bandit
2 Solemn Warning
2 Dimensional Prison
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Royal Oppression
1 Trap Dustshoot
1 Solemn Judgment

Extra Deck: 15
3 Dragunity Knight – Vajrayana
2 Scrap Dragon
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Ancient Fairy Dragon
1 Ally of Justice Catastor
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Red Dragon Archfiend
1 Thought Ruler Archfiend
2 Stardust Dragon
1 Trident Dragion
1 Magical Android

Side Deck: 15
2 Cyber Dragon
2 Electric Virus
2 Puppet Plant
2 Chain Disappearance
2 Dust Tornado
2 Royal Decree
1 Mask of Restrict
2 Banisher of the Radiance

~~~~~

On the single Pot of Avarice and Pot of Duality:

I realized through playtesting that the inconsistent hands in this deck stem from having more than one avarice at any point and more than 1 duality (I'm not saying these are the ONLY inconsistent hands but they are the worst ones). When I thought about avarice it really just came down to me asking the question of "who could I have played that survived 6 level 8 synchros where I would need to pot more than once?" Also, I am completely aware about the whole "no card is dead argument because you can pitch it to ravine" but that is not a sound argument I assure you. This deck is way more broken when you open with backrows and ravine, not draw cards and ravine. Dragunity is a deck that kind of sets up a fortress first turn and builds on that fortress each turn while the opponent tries to break it down. The stronger the fortress the higher the chance of you overwhelming the opponent quickly. Duality is a great card but I personally could not stand to run multiples because drawing it after turn 1 made it almost always discard fodder and the fact that if I activated with my stardust face up I would never declare an attack (unless of course mirror force was already in his or her graveyard) so it was like "taking a turn off." Lastly, to strengthen my previous avarice argument, I wan't to clarify that I am not the type of player who runs multiples of cards for consistency purposes, as in "I have to play 2 of this card so I can draw into it more often". I like OVERALL UTILITY. Yes it is true that this deck can go turn 2 avarice but the card isn't necessary to draw every game and on top of that it's really bad vs the samurai and gk matchup. For the first YCS of a format I believe your decklist should be more DIVERSE and have a few more tricks than a linear build with 2s and 3s of every card.

On running Cyber Dragon without Chimeratech in the Extra alongside it and to siding Decree with heavy S/T removal already in the main:

I run cyber without chimeratech because it is used for more than just contacting with other machines. He is 2100, a special summon, and a possible tribute summon which has utility games 2 and 3 when I side in puppet plants to take legendary six samurai shi en. Also, cyber dragon is absurd against gk even IF they have a valley on board. With so many 2 star tuners cyber dragon can make an instant black rose or ancient fairy dragon. I side so much backrow hate because dragunity is possibly the MOST FRAGILE deck after game 1. Chain disappearance is savage. Decree vs sabers and gk is really good and it can be pretty good vs antimeta. Dust tornado is for samurais and decks that run opposing field spells (dragunity mirror match, gk, gemini fusionist).

On using Royal Oppression:

I've never flipped an oppression that hurt me more than my opponent. I don't believe in being "forced" to flip a card lol. Oppression outright wins the game on its own which is why I would never take it out of ANY yugioh deck at this point. I literally start off all my decklists by writing royal oppression and 39 other cards. And my point about avarice was that I don't want to draw it alot in the first place. I side the card out like every game too.

I ONLY USE OPPRESSION WHEN I HAVE MY OWN FIELD OF HUGE MONSTERS (STARDUST, CRAP DRAGON, THOUGHT RULER, ETC). I learned this concept from Jerry Wang in Teledad format. Basically you build up your beefy field and then they can't respond. You aren't forced to make any decisions you don't wanna make. Flipping oppression with a hand that strictly special summons and WITHOUT a field presence is YOUR mistake. I'm not foolish enough to assume I'm going to win from legionnaire and oppression combos--> that was never my intention when I decided to main deck the card.

On Icarus Attack in Dragunity:

As much as I do love the tricks you can perform with icarus attack in dragunity it was simply too inconsistent of a card for me. The thing about dragunity that I think a lot of people don't realize is that "theory-oh" almost does not apply to this deck. Icarus and multiple pots and such are good in theory but in actual playtesting it's not nearly as good as you would think. I liked it for clearing backrows and simplifying the gamestate however, that was not enough. There were too many hands where I opened ravine/terraforming, phalanx, and icarus. This caused the icarus to be dead because all I'm doing at that point is adding non-wingedbeast synchros to the field and wishing it were something more protective to further assure my lock on the game. I talked with Dale about Dragunity and he also said he hates the card which I'm sure he experienced the same inconsistencies as I did. Lastly, if I were to run icarus attack at all it would be a "1 of." I don't think it's needed in multiples and I felt seven tools was strictly better than icarus when it comes to having a well-rounded deck to face so many different matchups at the first YCS of a format.

Sure Icarus has that absurd play--> legionnaire, equip aklys, pop 2 cards, use icarus when they try to do something to the lingering legionnaire later and go ++++++
But you're really not going to be getting that off against good players all that often. Oh and there are opposing seven tools and trap stuns that further made me not want to run it. Icarus is still a good card, don't get me wrong, but my playstyle did not suit that card.

On Banisher of Radiance:

Banisher was for sabers frogs and fish. I sided only 1 of vs plants. I want to make it known that games 2 and 3 I played the deck very different from game 1. Also I assumed people would weaken their defenses in those games by siding in chain disappearances, closed forest, and electric viruses.

Tournament Report: Post Tournament Thoughts

I attended a regionals over the weekend. You can read about it here. I managed to top with Dragunitys which was a great deal of fun and after the tournament I had a lot of time to think over and discuss my plays and deck choices with other people. Both online and IRL. I thought it'd be a good idea to do a brief write-up of what I would change for next time just based on yesterdays experiences.

3 Terraforming and 3 Cards of Consonance is pretty much staple for me now I feel. I still don't like the dead draw factor. Ravine's ability to turn dead cards into live ones doesn't entirely negate the wasted draw you have to endure to get the search and I'd personally much rather be drawing something of higher utility, however, as Field Spells grow more and more competitive it becomes far more important that we can access our Ravine before our opponent. In the GK, Malefic or even the Mirror Match the one who can get their Field out fastest and protect it will win, and if your Field is destroyed it is even more important that you can re-access it fast enough as not to lose any substantial ground. Terraforming ensures this. For that reason I feel I'll be sticking with triple Terraforming until we get a Dragunity monster that can search our Field ala Gravkeeeper's Commandant.

As for Consonance I have always thought that 3 Consonance was really the best way to go both in practice and in theory. This weekends tournament solidified that for me.

When running 3 Cards of Consonance you have a 39% chance of opening with Consonance (increase by 5% each draw or thin of the deck), paired with a 14% chance of opening with it and Phalanx (increase by 4-5%), or alternatively a 65% chance of opening with any draw card target (assuming you run 6 targets, its 58% if you run 5).

With 2 you only have a 28% chance, increased by 4% each turn. That means in running 2 you are 11% behind from the start (two turns) and you're losing out on every angle after that. Its less consistent.

As a comparison the D-Hero engine ran 3 Destiny Draw with 4 targets; 2 being Malicious and they were only searchable via the lone Stratos which in turn was searchable by 1 RotA. With 5/6/7 targets all searchable by 3 Field Spells which in turn are all searchable by 2/3 Terraforming I'd go so far as to say it makes no statistical sense not to max out on a draw card as good as Cards of Consonance.

I know a lot of people are not keen on Mystle or Leyvaten. However, during the course of the tournament both proved their worth to me. Mystle in redeeming otherwise terrible hands whilst also helping further along my board position in several duels; just like its supposed to. And Leyvaten in jumping out of no where to win me 2 duels I would have otherwise lost, and just helping with solidifying the Trident Dragion OTK in general. So 2 Mystle and 1 Leyva will be what I'll be sticking with for now. I had originally run 3 Mystle and 2 Leyvaten in an effort to try and draw Mystletainn as often as possible but for the tournament I cut it to 2 copies to liven my draws, and I think that is the more solid choice. Leyvaten loses a lot of its power in a heavy backrow format. I used to champion running 3 back when Heavy was subtly keeping backrows in check to maximize on the Trident Dragion OTK. Now, however, that concept is flawed, shattered by the ovewhelming backrows of the present format. I cut it from 2 to 1 for that very reason; Leyvaten loses a lot of power this format, and with that I also cut Future Fusion.

Running Future Fusion always requires a large amount of targets; and without multiple Leyvaten and triple Mystle the predominant spread of targets for it become the Dragunity Tuners. Thereby robbing my Cards of Consonance and Ravine discards of their prime targets. As such going into the tournament I felt Future Fusion in a build not built around the Arms Series was a wasted slot, far weaker than other deck choices. I'd stand by that.

During the tournament I constantly found myself being stymied in my synchro plays. I could pull them off to big backrows with help like Lance/Stun but be stalled for several turns as a result of them still existing. I constantly found myself wishing that instead of using a Forbidden Lance/ Trap Stun to continue my Synchro Climb I had just tributed the Dux for an Icarus Attack and climbed the next turn. Doing that would clear out the problematic S/Ts and allow my Synchros to make a bigger impact on the overall game.

Jeff Jones actually wrote a wonderful post on the matter that encompassed everything:

Also, now no one has to take into account what I'm saying, Volcanic Shell is just an awful card. Sure, it gives you free discards for Ravine, but that crap is irrelevant. You need to use those 3 spots for cards which give your deck utility. I'm going to list, imo in order what is most important for your Dragunity deck to do.

1) Getting to Dragons Ravine. This is obvious, doesnt need much going into. 3 Ravine 3 Terraforming, some number of Duality and CoC. I think you have something like an 87% chance to open with Ravine as 1 of your first 6 cards (3 Terra 3 Ravine) in a 41 card deck.

2) Plenty of S/T removal. This is very important. If you just try to go off with Ravine > Dux > Synchro into 3 backrow, your bound to lose. You have to fish out your opponents backrows 1 at a time, or with cards like Icarus, Trunade, MST, and even Legion/Aklys plays. This is very important to understand that some times you'll need to slow roll your opponent, weeding out their cards 1 at a time to make sure you can do #3

3) Being able to make a setup, and make it unbreakable. This basically means play my favorite mini game "Protect the Stardust Dragon!". I win most of my games by doing this. Make Stardust, set warnings, oppressions, dprisons, and have effect veilers in hand. This allows you to make follow up plays with out being fucked over by Torrential/BTH. The more you run of these types of cards the better. Its why its so important you dont run cards like Volcanic Shell and have as much room as possible.

Again, this is how I view the deck. Not how everyone has to run it, but its how I do it.

- Jeff Jones

And he's right. I was completely wrong about Icarus Attack and I think that Icarus in the main would have made so many of those games in the tournament that stalled me so much easier.

Anyway, those are my basic thoughts on the deck after having played it TCGside. Its an entirely different deck over here. Right now I'm still contemplating what to do about my second Pot of Avarice because I always sided it out, but I still prefer running 2 because it gives me a better chance of drawing it when it can be most beneficial. The 28% chance of opening with one is high, but as is the increasing 4% chance of drawing it each time I draw or thin a card from the deck; that ensures I'll see it far more frequently opposed to the 15% open and 2% increase of a single copy. So I'm not sure where I stand with Avarice at the moment but this is my decklist after some revisions from yesterday.

Main Deck: 40

Monsters: 16
3 Dragunity Aklys
1 Dragunity Arma Leyvaten
2 Dragunity Arma Mystletainn
1 Dragunity Brandistock
3 Dragunity Dux
3 Dragunity Legionnaire
3 Dragunity Phalanx

Spells: 17
1 Book of Moon
3 Cards of Consonance
1 Dark Hole
3 Dragon Ravine
1 Giant Trunade
1 Monster Reborn
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
2 Pot of Avarice
3 Terraforming

Traps: 7
2 Icarus Attack
1 Mirror Force
1 Solemn Judgment
2 Solemn Warning
1 Torrential Tribute

Tournament Report: Dragunity

Alright, this is a small regional report which I took my newly constructed TCG Dragunity deck to. I'd appreciate any feedback on siding choices or potential misplays I may have made.

I wake up rather early to check over my deck and stuff. Make sure I have everything together, eat some noodles for breakfast. Basic stuff. I drink some coke to wake me up and make a cup of tea. Ambi is sick and decides she isn’t coming today so I hang around the house until Alex shows up. We get in his shit shit car that can still make the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs and head over to the tourney. I’m using Dragunity and he is using Legendary Six Samurai which he recently completed. He traded me some Dragunity Legion structures for my Gateway. Lol. I had forgotten that we got the release before the US so I wasn’t expecting them to be in stock; he saw them at the mall and nabbed them for me before they sold out. Pity no one else here has Phalanx or Vajrayana. Lol, should we see a Dragunity mirror today it will be incredibly one sided. Anyway Alex gets lost on the way which is usual and we arrive late. We spot a Wendys nearby and decide we’re going there for lunch. I have almost literally no money though so Alex agrees to buy me lunch if I top and give him my packs. We sign up and go off to our spots. This is my deck:

Main Deck: 40

Monsters: 16
3 Dragunity Aklys
1 Dragunity Arma Leyvaten
2 Dragunity Arma Mystletainn
1 Dragunity Brandistock
3 Dragunity Dux
3 Dragunity Legionnaire
3 Dragunity Phalanx

Spells: 17
1 Book of Moon
3 Cards of Consonance
1 Dark Hole
3 Dragon Ravine
1 Giant Trunade
1 Monster Reborn
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
2 Pot of Avarice
3 Terraforming

Traps: 7
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Mirror Force
1 Solemn Judgment
2 Solemn Warning
1 Torrential Tribute

Extra Deck: 15
1 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon
1 Ally of Justice Catastor
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Dragunity Knight - Gae Dearg
3 Dragunity Knight - Vajrayana
2 Stardust Dragon
1 Thought Ruler Archfiend
1 Colossal Fighter
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Red Dragon Archfiend
1 Trident Dragion
1 Mist Wurm

Side Deck: 15
2 Cyber Dragon
2 D.D. Crow
2 Effect Veiler
2 Victoria
2 Nobleman of Crossout
2 Mask of Restrict
1 Icarus Attack
2 Trap Stun

I wanted the Veilers to be Puppet Plants but I couldn't get a hold of any in time for the event. Mirror Match won't be an issue here as literally no one has Phalanx or Vaj but me. I considered maining Veiler for a bit but eventually just left it in the side.

Round 1 - Formula Monarchs

Game 1:

I win the roll and go first. I open with Phalanx, Aklys, Mystletainn, Judgment, Warning and Bottomless.

I summon Phalanx and send it for Mystle, climbing into Stardust, set all 3 S/Ts and end with 1 card in hand.

~

He sets a single S/T and passes.

~

I draw Legionnaire and hit directly with Stardust. He uses Battle Fader. I’d love to Warning it but I’m afraid of spending my Warning too soon so I let it go.

~

He sets a monster and passes.

~

I draw a Mystical Space Typhoon and drop it on his back row; Enemy Controller. He lets it go.

I contemplate shelling out my hand on an Aklys play to clear his field. I still don’t know what I’m playing but I’m guessing it’s a Formula Monarch deck so Stardust attacks his f/d instead. It’s a Swap Frog. Fuuuuuuck. I hate frogs. I end with a sour look on my face that makes him laugh.

~

To my eternal frustration he sets yet another monster and a back row and passes.

~

I draw Dux and decide to try an Aklys. I summon Aklys and bring down Legionnaire and equip it to him. I target both his Fader and his F/D. It’s another Swap Frog. Legionnaire hits directly and Stardust is stopped by Enemy Controller. He seems very confused by my cards. I am aware most people in New Zealand have no idea what Dragunity monsters do. I guess I’ll blame his E-Con misplays on not knowing the little Dragon tuner was going to wipe his field.

I’m up 6 cards to 3. I end.

~

He passes without doing anything. Either he has Gorz/Fader or his hand is super bad. I’ve seen Formula Monarch decklists before with like 12 tribute monsters; I suppose it’s entirely feasible he just drew like Hopeless Dragon.

~

I draw Ravine. Neat. I summon Dux and debate trying a Trident Dragion. With both Solemns down I elect to give it a shot. Dux brings back Phalanx; I tune it to Stardust and go into Trident Dragion popping my two Winged-Beasts. Not eager to give away my Dragon Ravine yet. If he thought Aklys was good I would love to see him try to side against this deck without seeing Ravine. ;....;

He Faders and I Warning. No Gorz. GG.

Siding:

He doesn’t seem to know what to side. He asks for some pointers so I tell him that he should side in Light Imprisoning Mirror. :3

I drop 1 Avarice a Terraforming and both MST for 2 Masks of Restrict and 2 D.D. Crow. I saw Frogs and Faders so I’m guessing Formula Monarchs.

Game 2:

He leads this one off Foolishing for a Treeborn Frog, he then sets 2 back rows and ends.

~

I open with Ravine, Phalanx, Reborn, Crow and both Solemns again.

Paranoid of MST but I lead off with Ravine anyway. And sure enough after reading it and swearing he chains MST on its activation (at least he didn’t do it to the discard). I regret not just setting both Solemns and passing for a bit and then do just that. Poor Ravine

~

He sets a second S/T and passes back.

~

HA! I draw another Ravine. Yeah, go lady luck. I owe her one.

This one makes it into play safely and I pitch Phalanx for Dux and climb into Dearg. Along the way I have to Solemn Judgment a Treacherous Trap Hole. Yeah. Totally Formula Monarchs, right down to their cunt trap cards. Or more singular cunt trap.

Dearg sets up an Aklys for me. He E-cons it when it tries to attack. Out of spite I Reborn Phalanx and tune it to Dearg for Stardust before D.D. Crowing his Frog in his draw phase. He is not happy.

4000-8000

~

He sets a monster and passes.

~

I draw Mask of Restrict and contemplate how much of a dick I want to be. I decide a big one, plus I’m scared of Soul Exchange and so I set it and send Stardust after his f/d Ronintoad.

~

Sure enough he tries to Soul Exchange so I chain Restrict and he passes with a set S/T.

~

I draw Mystle. He’s a pretty cool guy and isn’t afraid of anythings but I pitch him for a Dux anyway. I debate using a Vajrayana/Aklys combo on him to even out the LP difference, but even though he only has 3 cards in hand I haven’t seen a single Fader this game so I wimp out and decide to go for Thought Ruler. Scrap looks nice but I’m rather fond of my Stardust, Ravine, Restrict, Warning lock atm. Besides his s/t is probably another cunt E-Con. Battle!

Yup. Another cunt E-Con. It costs me 1,000 but Thought Ruler charges on through it and punches him in the face.

3000-2800

~

He scoops on his turn. His hand had 2 LaDD a Dark Dust Spirit and a Caius.

~

W00t! 2-0 with my first Regional Dragunity match. It’s nice to see these guys in English after a year of OCG play. I un-side and go get a coke to drink.

Round 2 – Dragon... something

Game 1:

Right as we start this guy spots one of my flipped over Vajrayanas and starts ranting about how his dragon deck is better than mine. Cool, so you’re running dragons then.

I win the roll and open with Aklys, Mystle, Terraforming, Judgment, Bottomless and MST. Wow, I’ve opened with Judgment every duel so far this tournament. Sure that’s only 3 duels, but yay.

Grab Ravine and pitch Aklys for Phalanx. Do the minus route into Dust by summoning Phalanx and dumping him for Mystle. So handy Mystle. I set MST and Bottomless and save my Solemn. Yeah it’s good, but I don’t think I even need it against a dragon deck. Maybe I’m underestimating this guy, we’ll see. At least he knew what Vajrayana did.

~

He normal summons a White Stone of Legend. Damn. I was thinking Disaster Dragon.

Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon hits the field and activates its effect before being Bottomlessed away. Naturally Blue-Eyes hits and now I wish I had set my solemn. It’s ok. He’s overextending. I try comfort myself but I’m looking down at a Blue-Eyes White Dragon, and I want it. Blue-Eyes runs over my Stardust and I MST his set Call in the End Phase.

7500-8000

~

I draw Cards of Consonance and debate. Risk it all on a new hand, or just go the safe route... Vajrayana or Brionac could get rid of that easily enough. Brionac would have more Field Presence but could also feed future Trade-Ins. Scrap is also an option but it’d cost more. I pitch Judgment for Dux and go into Vajrayana for the most costless method of removal. Plus I get to hit him for 3,800. That’s a nice way to vent. Use my Blue-Eyes will you...

No Gorz.

7500-4200

~

He summons Vice Dragon and an Aklys of his own (I guess he got the Structure, I figure he’s using it as a level 2 tuner for Cards of Consonance? Phalanx is a bit expensive for that). He then removes it to summon the last card in his hand; Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon. Damn it.

He revives Blue-Eyes. He has no hand.

I take Vice, Darkness and Blue-Eyes to the face. I’m just going to Aklys him next turn.

2600-4200

~

I draw Mystle. Pro.

I ditch Consonance for Legionnaire and Aklys his Darkness and Blue-Eyes before climbing into a Colossal Fighter off Mystle and beating his Vice Dragon into the ground.

Yay he’s top decking. But using Sol...

2600-2400

~

He top decks Monster Reborn... Wow am I glad I went for Colossal Fighter.

Red-Eyes and Blue-Eyes hit the field again. Colossal holds them off.

2400-2400

~

I draw Aklys and grab Dux. Go into Scrap pitching Ravine to kill Blue-Eyes. Colossal clashes with Red-Eyes and revives before both of them hit him for game.

2400-0

Siding:

The only reason I went into Colossal Fighter was because of how many times DH has ripped a top deck Reborn into game against me. If I’d gone into Dust I’d have lost and Dust was technically the stronger play... Geez. I kind of hate dragon decks sometimes. Why are we so sacky?

I side in Victoria because I want my Blue-Eyes. Siding out both MST.

Game 2:

He leads this one off Foolishing for SOL and discarding Blue-Eyes with Trade-In. Sets a monster with 2 back row and ends

~

I open horribly; Trunade, Leyvaten, Mystle, Dux, Legionnaire and Cards of Consonance. Well, 71% chance bypassed. At least once I get a tuner I’ll be in a good position. If I live that long.

I set Trunade and pass.

~

He summons Exploder Dragon, RFGs it for Darkness Metal. Flips Call of the Haunted on Blue-Eyes and uses Darkness to bring a Vice Dragon down from his hand.

He literally Flip Summons Totem Dragon into ATK mode to make up the 200 LP I’d have left over. Q_Q

0-8000

Siding:

No changes.

Game 3:

I open dual Mystle, Phalanx, Dux, Warning and Bottomless. I do my Phalanx/Mystle into Stardust and back it up with Warning and Bottomless.

~

He starts with Trade-In again, then plays Sarco for Future Fusion followed by a Giant Trunade. Ugh he’s going to overextend again...

He summons a SOL and removes it for Darkness Metal which brings up the Traded-In Blue-Eyes.

After running over my Stardust and hitting my directly he ends with 2 cards in hand and nothing set.

4700-8000

~

I draw Solemn Judgment. I summon Dux and go into Brionac pitching Mystle and Bottomless to bounce his field. I’m not sure if this is the strongest play but without Aklys everything else seems rather mediocre as well.

I set my two Solemns

4700-5700

~

He drops a Vice Dragon and summons an Aklys alongside it. He RFGs Aklys for Darkness Metal and that gets hit by Warning. He has Monster Reborn but I Solemn that too. He ends with his Vice in ATK mode staring down my Brionac.

1350-5700

~

I draw Victoria. I take his Red-Eyes and bring back my Stardust with it. My field of dragons runs over Vice Dragon on the way to victory while his only card in hand; Blue-Eyes sits and watches.

1350-0

~

Alex brings me a coke as I side out my Victorias. We find out we’re playing each other next. Imma be raped.

Round 3 – Legendary Six Samurai

Game 1:

Alex and I are friends. He’s using my Gateway in his LSS deck so I know what he’s running. Tragically he got me my Ravines so he also knows what I’m running. Ah well. This’ll be a fun match.

He wins the roll and opens with a Six Samurai United. After some debating he sets a F/D monster and 2 back rows.

~

I open with Ravine, MST, Brandistock, Leyvaten, Avarice and Legionnaire.

I activate Ravine and discard Leyvaten for Phalanx. I set Brandistock and MST and pass

~

He Shien’s Smoke Signals for a Hand of the Six Samurai. Kizan and Grandmaster hit the field and he pitches Six Sam United for a 2 draw. He flip summons Kagemusha.

He tunes Kagemusha to Kizan for Brionac, discarding Hand of the Six and 2 Bottomless to bounce my Field, Brandistock and S/T. I chain MST on his f/d Magatama and then he flips Double-Edged Sword Technique. He brings back Hand and Kizan and proceeds to OTK me.

0-8000

Siding:

I was hoping I wouldn’t have to face Alex here. I couldn’t get a hold of any Puppet Plants before the tournament so I’m stuck running Effect Veilers in their stead. Alex knows this and offers to just play the match without either of us siding against each other. He has the stronger matchup but I also know he is siding a ton of cards that could rip my deck apart so I happily agree. We don’t side.

Game 2:

I start this game off with Cards of Consonance, Phalanx, Mystle, Dux, Terraforming and MST. W00t!

I play Terraforming for Ravine and then pitch Phalanx for Consonance drawing Book of Moon and another Dux.

I activate Ravine and discard one of my Dux to grab an Aklys. Then I summon the other Dux and climb into Stardust, set both Book and MST and end.

~

He leads with United and summons Kageki I chain Book and MST on the two. Perhaps a bit overzealous but after last duel I’m rather paranoid. He drops Kagemusha in DEF mode, sets 2 S/T and ends.

~

I draw another Phalanx. I discard Aklys for Ravine to add the ever predictable Legionnaire. I summon it but he flips Solemn Warning.

Stardust runs over Kagemusha.

8000-6000

~

He sets another monster and passes.

~

I draw a Torrential Tribute and pitch Phalanx for a Dux.

Dux climbs into a Red Dragon Archfiend. I say the chant. Naturally.

Red Dragon Archfiend absolute powaaas through his two f/d monsters. I hit the Kageki and kill his Morphing Jar in the backlash. Stardust hits direct.

I set Torrential.

8000-3500

~

On his turn he draws and scoops. He won’t show me his hand. :3

Siding:

No changes.

Game 3:

Alex leads off with Smoke Signal for Hand again. Idk why he does this. He says he likes having Hand first now that they don’t have triple Gateway cuz it helps to have it there for when the inevitable Reaper crops up. I wouldn’t know I don’t run LSS.

He summons Kageki and brings down a Hand.

He sets 2 S/T and ends.

~

I open with 2 Consonance, Ravine, Reborn, Warning and Avarice.

I pitch Avarice for Ravine and grab Phalanx which gives me Bottomless and another Ravine off of Consonance.

I set Warning and Bottomless and end.

~

He brings down another Kageki, followed by a Kizan whom I Bottomless.

The three Samurai hit me directly.

3000-8000

~

I draw Aklys and discard it for Consonance to draw Terraforming and another Avarice. I pitch Terraforming for Ravine to grab a Dux which he promptly Warnings.

I activate my second Ravine over the first. Pitch Avarice for Leyvaten and Reborn it.

Leyvaten grabs Phalanx and I sync into Trident Dragion popping my facedown Warning and Ravine.

Trident runs over Hand with no response from his last F/D. Both Kageki drop to 200ATK.

Trident runs over both Kageki. His F/D is a bluff.

3000-0

~

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah I almost lost that one. >_>;;

Alex and I are rather stunned by the success of my desperate Trident Dragion play, we’re both kind of hungry but there isn’t a break. This is a small 6 round tournament so we’re pushing on through lunch. Idk if American Regionals have lunch breaks but we sometimes if the TO is a casual enough guy we have a little hour long intermission wherein a lot of free match wins are racked up in the following round.

We grab a coke out of the vending machine and go dick around until the next round begins.

Round 4 – Disaster Dragon

Game 1:

No idea what this deck is going in. I open up with Book, Ravine, Consonance, Mirror Force, Dux and Solemn Judgment. I trade Solemn for a Phalanx and Consonance gives me Aklys and MST. I Dux into a Stardust since my Aklys play is basically set and end with Book, Mirror and MST backing it.

~

First move he makes is Dark Hole. To which my Stardust leaps off the field to negate.

He then Sarcos for a Torrential Tribute, activates Future Fusion and my MST jumps in and stops it. He ends with a single S/T.

~

I draw a Terraforming and pitch Aklys for another Dux.

I plan on going into Vajrayana and using Aklys to kill his f/d but he tries to Bottomless the Dux when it’s summoned so I end up just climbing into a Colossal Fighter and hitting him with it.

I search another Ravine with Terraforming before Stardust returns.

8000-5200

~

He sets a monster.

~

I draw Dark Hole, pitch it for Dux and go into Vajrayana. Vajrayana grabs Aklys and pops his Masked Dragon. Everything swings for game.

8000-0

Siding:

I side in Victoria siding out 1 Terraforming and 1 Avarice.

Game 2:

He starts off with Sarco for Future Fusion. T-Sets and ends.

~

My opening hand is MST, Mystle, Legion, Phalanx, Victoria and Consonance.

I trade Phalanx for Solemn Judgment and another MST. Since I now have one to spare I take out his set Call. I’ll save the other for his Future Fusion. ;...;

I set Solemn and debate my move for a bit before passing with nothing else in play.

~

He tributes Totem Dragon for Red-Eyes Darkness Metal and I Solemn it. He sets another S/T and ends with 2 cards in hand.

4000-8000

~

I draw my second Victoria.

I want to MST that Future Fusion but if I clear that f/d I can Victoria spam him to death. That FF will also help Victoria. I drop MST on what turns out to be Trap Stun. Lame.

I summon Victoria and revive Darkness Metal. Darkness grabs my Phalanx which I pitch for Mystle who then brings it back and has sex with it to give me a Stardust Dragon. Battle!

4000-900

~

He gets Future Fusion and brings back Totem Dragon. Future Fusion activates, dumping 3 Wyverns, 1 Red-Eyes and 1 Totem with it. He removes Totem to bring down another Darkness and revives a Wyvern in DEF mode.

Darkness beats up Victoria and he revives a second in ATK as he ends but I flash my other Victoria in hand and he scoops.

~

Victoria is proooooooo.

Alex comes over after this match and informs me that the other dragon guy just got a match loss for stacking. That’s it? Well at least that explains the two identical swarm hands backed by the top decked Monster Reborn. Pity he didn’t get DQed.

Round 5 – Chimeratech Gadgets

Game 1:

This guy wins the roll and leads with Red Gadget. At least I know what I’m facing.

He sets an S/T and ends

~

I open with Mystle, MST, Terraforming, Avarice, Dux and Warning.

I drop MST on his Bottomless, search Ravine and minus myself discarding Avarice to put a Phalanx in grave.

Climb into Thought Ruler and set Warning before running over his little Red Gadget.

9300-6600

~

He activates Future Fusion and I let it go. He proceeds to dump a bunch of Machina, Gadgets, Cyber Dragons and Jinzo alongside their Jinzo Returners. I do hope he doesn’t have Overload. >.<

Two Jinzo hit the field before he drops Overload Fusion. Why Konami, why was it a good idea to put that thing to two? Now I’m wishing I’d Warninged the Future Fusion.

He removes 16 Machines in order to bring down Chimeratech Overdragon with 12,800 ATK. Then he drops Giant Trunade, wow this guy opened with the fucking nuts. Why didn’t he Trunade first?

Siding:

In come the Cyber Dragons. Side out an Avarice and Book of Moon.

Game 2:

I open this one with Monster Reborn, Bottomless, Solemn Judgment, Phalanx, Dux and Terraforming. I nab Ravine and grab a Legionnaire off my pitch. I climb into Dearg and set up Aklys, set both my traps and end.

~

He summons a Yellow Gadget, sets 2 S/Ts and ends

~

I draw another Ravine. I summon Legionnaire and try for an Aklys play, it succeeds. Aklys hits a Trap Stun and he chains it. I don’t complain. I use Dearg to dump Brandistock into my grave and pitch Ravine to dump Leyvaten and Reborn it. Leyvaten equips Brandistock and I swing for 8,800.

8000-0

Siding:

No changes.

Game 3:

He leads off with Gearframe into Fortress with a single back row.

~

I open with pretty much every Trap in my deck: Warning, Judgment, Torrential, Bottomless, Mystle and Consonance. I set all my Traps and pass.

~

He hits Warning with a MST from his hand. He then discards Jinzo Returner and Fortress to summon it. I Torrential. He then pitches another Gearframe and a Cyber Dragon to revive it. I Bottomless it. He passes with one card in hand.

~

I draw an Aklys and ditch it for Consonance netting me MST and Terraforming. I MST his set card – Dark Hole. Grab Ravine and mull over how useless that Aklys is right now.

I quite like my Mystle with this bad hand so I pass back to him.

~

He passes

~

I draw another Ravine, pitch it for the first to grab Phalanx and summon it to climb into Stardust. Stardust hits direct.

8000-5500

~

He activates Future Fusion and I Solemn it. He drops Overload anyway removing 4 Machines for a 3200ATK Chimeratech Overdragon.

3300-5500

~

I draw Dux and climb to Vajrayana before Aklysing him and hitting him for 3800.

3300-1700

~

He sets his draw and passes.

~

I draw Mirror Force and search another Dux. I go into another Vajrayana and Aklys his Dimensional Prison before attacking for game. His last in hand card was Giant Trunade.

3300-0

~

Why the hell did Konami think bringing Overload to 2 was a good move? Is it somehow less of an OTK tool now that we have better machines? >.<

My misplay game one cost me that duel, if it weren’t for that I might have 2-0ed this guy. Ah well, 1 more round left in the tournament and I’m running 5-0 with only 2 game losses.

We don’t have time to get a drink before the next round begins. Lame.

Round 6 – Gladiator Beasts

Game 1:

As we’re shuffling I find out this guy is also going 5-0 but has only lost one game this tournament. I instantly want to beat him even more than I already did.
I win the roll and open Aklys, Brandi, Dux, Avarice, Warning and Legionnaire. Idk what I’m facing and this hand is terrible so I set Brandi and Warning and pass.

~

He drops a Cyber Dragon and follows that up with a Proving Ground (awww fuuuuuuck not GBs) for Laquari.

Laquari tries to land but I Warning it, with fervour. Cyber Dragon crushes my Brandistock.

He sets 2 and ends. Why’d it have to be GBs?

~

I draw Dark Hole. Handy, haven’t seen that all tournament.

I summon Aklys and bring down Legion. I nuke CyDra and trigger an Enemy Controller with Aklys. Effff. I set Avarice.

~

He plays a second Proving Ground and grabs another Laquari.

He then Rebrons CyDra.

Laquari kills Legion and CyDra takes me below 4000. Laquari tags for Bestiari who nukes my set Avarice. I’m just feeding him plays. At least he isn’t afraid of walking into Bottomless with that thing.

3900-8000

~

I draw a Terraforming and drop Dark Hole on his field.

Terraforming nabs Ravine but I just summon my Dux and equip Brandistock.

Dux hits direct twice.

3900-4200

~

He sets a monster and another s/t. His hand is now entirely on the field. I don’t think Glads run Morphing Jar so that’s probably a Hoplomus.

~

I draw a Terraforming, activate Ravine and pitch it for Phalanx before passing.

~

He sets another monster.

~

I draw Book of Moon and trade Phalanx for a Dux. He flips Warning on the summon and I pass again after setting Book.

3900-2200

~

He flips a F/D Darius much to my rage before setting a card. Guess that’s a War Chariot and this is your bait huh?

I Book the Darius for being a douche.

~

I draw Mirror Force and pitch it for another Dux. I climb to Vajrayana and use the Aklys to pop the new S/T. I hit Mirror Force. Oh you cheeky punk.

Dux weeds out the two F/D Glads, a Darius and a Retiari. Vajrayana hits for game.

His long existing F/D was War Chariot but he never had a face-up GB to use it.

3900-0

Siding:

I side in 2 Cyber Dragon and 2 Trap Stun siding out 2 MST and 2 Avarice.

Game 2:

He opens up with 2 S/Ts and a set monster.

~

My opening hand contains Giant Trunade, Mirror Force, Cards of Consonance, Phalanx, Dux and Legion. I trade Phalanx for a Terraforming and a Cyber Dragon.

Lolololololol. Trident Dragion!

I Trunade to clear those pesky S/Ts from ruining my set up and nab Ravine.

I pitch Legion to send Leyvaten to my grave, SS Cyber Dragon and summon Dux. Dux removes for Leyvaten who equips Phalanx and I set my Mirror Force.

I synchro Trident Dragion destroying Ravine and Mirror Force. Trident Dragion kills the Hoplomus and then it and Cyber Dragon hit for 8100. OTK!

8000-0

~

W00t 6-0 with Dragunitys!

So that’s a nice 2-0 record to move onto from Glads. I end up with a 6-0 streak and only lose out in the top 4 to another guy running LSS who didn’t lose a single game. I place second and since there are 4 of us we just elect to settle and split packs instead of playing out the top 4 for respective prizes. Alex gets my ABPF packs and pulls jank. Wendyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyys~!

EDIT: You can read my post tournament thoughts here.

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

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.

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.