Yu-gi-oh Duel Video Discussion - Plants and Ice Barriers

Well, I'm going to be doing something different. I'll be showing you guys a few duel videos, that you can comment on. Anyway, for the first video, here's a reason why you shouldn't go AFK on Dueling Network:

So, I'll ask you this. What makes real life Yu-gi-oh! dueling so different from online dueling? There isn't. People duel online face off against one another to have fun, hence why Rauzes discussed how it doesn't matter where you come from, when you two are dueling/cardfighting, the reason becomes "You want to fight someone that's stronger than you, so that once you leave the area, you can fix your deck for the flaws it may potentially have in that duel or cardfight, and go to the next duel/cardfight/tournament." (If you want to read more, you can click here.)

Now, here's a match where I show you how well the Plant deck works:

(Note that there's volume on this duel, so if you don't want to listen to the background music, I would recommend muting it)

Now, here's a duel where I show you how well the Ice Barrier deck works:

(Note that there's volume on this duel, so if you don't want to listen to the background music, I would recommend muting it)

As for other comments, it shouldn't matter if you play in real life or online, you'll gain experience to face off against certain decks, which can make you a better duelist/cardfighter.

Anyway, thoughts, discuss, and comments. Enjoy!

Yu-gi-oh! Deck Guide - Plants - Part 1

Right now, there's two possible paths to take with Plants at the moment. One will be showcased in this post, and the other will be posted later. Right now, here's the rundown of the cards for the strategy:

Fallen Angel of Roses

*******   Attribute: Earth

[Plant/Effect]

You can return 1 face-up Plant-Type monster you control to the hand, except "Fallen Angel of Roses", and Special Summon this card from your hand. If this card is Special Summoned this way, remove it from play when it is removed from the field.

ATK: 2400   DEF: 1300

With this card, it'll become slightly easier to summon a 2400 monster, and be able to reuse one Plant-type monster's effect to your liking.

Naturia Bamboo Shoot

*****    Attribute: Earth

[Plant/Effect]

If this card is Tribute Summoned by Tributing a "Naturia" monster, while this card remains face-up on the field, your opponent cannot activate Spell or Trap Cards.

ATK: 2000   DEF: 2000

A lockdown out for this deck. Once this is summoned, if they do not have a card that can overpower this thing immediately, then they'll be taking a few hits, which can lead to winning a game.

Queen Angel of Roses

*******   Attribute: Earth

[Plant/Effect]

You can Tribute Summon this card in face-up Attack Position by Tributing 1 Plant-Type monster. Once per turn, during your Standby Phase, destroy 1 face-up monster on the field with the lowest ATK.

ATK: 2400   DEF: 1300

This card can become an out to an immediate threat that comes up. Another combination that I use to make sure this card doesn't get destroyed is as follows:

Queen Angel of Roses + Naturia Pineapple

With those two, I can chose which effect can go first, second, or potentially third. For example, if I want to get rid of an opponent's monster that has less ATK than Queen Angel of Roses, I would pick Queen Angel's effect to go first. Otherwise, I would use Naturia Pineapple's effect, then Queen Angel's effect, then Naturia Pineapple's effect, since it is still in the Standby Phase. The last card is listed below:

Naturia Pineapple

**   Attribute: Earth

[Plant/Effect]

All face-up monsters you control are treated as Plant-Type. If this card is in your Graveyard during your Standby Phase, and you control no Spell or Trap Cards, you can Special Summon this card. This effect cannot be activated if you control a face-up "Naturia Pineapple" or if there are any monsters in your Graveyard that are not Plant-Type or Beast-Type.

ATK: 100   DEF: 100

This card can be used to fulfill the requirements to summon one of the three above, and then still come back to be reused for all the card effects that this deck has to offer.

Sample Deck List:

Dandylion

3x Evil Thorn

3x Fallen Angel of Roses

3x Koa'ki Meiru Gravirose

Lonefire Blossom

2x Naturia Bamboo Shoot

3x Naturia Pineapple

3x Queen Angel of Roses

Dark Hole

Foolish Burial

2x Fragrance Storm

Heavy Storm

2x Mark of the Rose

3x Miracle Fertilizer

Monster Reborn

2x Mystical Space Typhoon

Pot of Avarice

2x Bottomless Trap Hole

3x Call of the Haunted

2x Torrential Tribute

Rate, comment, fix, thoughts, and discuss. Enjoy!

Yu-gi-oh! Deck Guide - Ice Barriers (Competitive) - Part 1

Well, in the last build, I decided to make it casual, but in this build, I decided to make it a bit more competitive that can stand up to some decks. Please note that this deck is not 100% perfect, but it'll give you a sample of what to do with Ice Barriers in the current meta. Without further ado, here's the three cards that I center this deck on:

Strategist of the Ice Barrier

****   Attribute: Water

[Spellcaster/Effect]

Once per turn, you can send 1 "Ice Barrier" monster from your hand to the Graveyard to draw 1 card.

ATK: 1600   DEF: 1600

This card is mainly used to cycle through your high level monsters with more live cards. Once you dump those cards to your Graveyard, the next card comes into play:

Prior of the Ice Barrier

**   Attribute: Water

[Aqua/Effect]

If you control a face-up "Ice Barrier" monster, you can Special Summon this card (from your hand). You cannot Special Summon any Level 5 or higher monsters the turn you use this effect. You can Tribute this card to target 1 "Ice Barrier" monster in your Graveyard, except "Prior of the Ice Barrier"; Special Summon that target.

ATK: 1000   DEF: 400

When you have a bunch of high levels to pick from, it'll depend on the situation that you are in where you are going to use them; however, two cards would stand out when you use Prior of the Ice Barrier's effect, which are as follows:

General Grunard of the Ice Barrier

********   Attribute: Water

[Warrior/Effect]

During your Main Phase, you can Normal Summon 1 "Ice Barrier" monster in addition to your Normal Summon or Set. This effect can only be used once per turn.

ATK: 2800   DEF: 1000

For this instance, when you want to have General Grunard of the Ice Barrier out on your Field is when you want to set up a play to bounce your opponent's Synchro Monster or Xyz Monster, which can be done by this card:

Sacred Spirit of the Ice Barrier

****    Attribute: Water

[Zombie/Spirit/Effect]

This card cannot be Special Summoned. This card returns to the hand during the End Phase of the turn it is Normal Summoned or flipped face-up, unless you control another face-up "Ice Barrier" monster. In that case, this card's effect changes to select 1 monster your opponent controls and return it to the hand, instead.

ATK: 1600    DEF: 1200

When you already used your Normal Summon for the turn, you can use General Grunard of the Ice Barrier's ability to Normal Summon Sacred Spirit of the Ice Barrier, and have it bounce the Synchro Monster or Xyz Monster. For the other monster that you prefer to Special Summon using Prior of the Ice Barrier's ability is listed below:

General Gantala of the Ice Barrier

*******   Attribute: Water

[Warrior/Effect]

Once per turn, during your End Phase, you can select and Special Summon 1 "Ice Barrier" monster from your Graveyard, except "General Gantala of the Ice Barrier".

ATK: 2700   DEF: 2000

For this card's Special Summon ability, and for other targets for Prior of the Ice Barrier's ability, are listed below:

General Raiho of the Ice Barrier

******   Attribute: Water

[Warrior/Effect]

When an effect resolves that was activated by your opponent's Effect Monster on the field, they can discard 1 card. If they do not, that effect is negated.

ATK: 2100   DEF: 2300

Medium of the Ice Barrier

*******   Attribute: Water

[Spellcaster/Effect]

If your opponent controls 4 or more cards than you do, you can Special Summon this card from your hand. Your opponent can only activate 1 Spell/Trap Card per turn.

ATK: 2200   DEF: 1600

Other than that, it's pretty self-explanatory.

Sample Deck List:

2x General Gantala of the Ice Barrier

2x General Grunard of the Ice Barrier

2x General Raiho of the Ice Barrier

2x Medium of the Ice Barrier

3x Prior of the Ice Barrier

3x Sacred Spirit of the Ice Barrier

3x Strategist of the Ice Barrier

2x Treeborn Frog

Dark Hole

Foolish Burial

Heavy Storm

2x Magic Triangle of the Ice Barrier

3x Medallion of the Ice Barrier

Monster Reborn

3x Moray of Greed

2x Mystical Space Typhoon

3x Aquamirror's Art of Regeneration

2x Bottomless Trap Hole

2x Torrential Tribute

Rate, comment, fix, thoughts, and discuss. Enjoy!

Yu-gi-oh! Deck Guide - Ice Barriers (Casual) - Part 1

Alright, for this build, since Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier was banned and Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier is limited, another strategy has to stem out from the deck. This deck cannot compete against Tier 1 and Tier 2 decks, but it'll be a good deck to try out on a casual pace or a starting point to get it into the competitive range once again. Why can't it compete against the top decks? The strategy is based around Field Presence and keeping a fair amount of cards in the hand. Since Wind-Ups destroy your hand and Inzektors destroy your Field, there's no point in having a monster based archetype that stalls. Anyway, I've kept it within the casual range, but if you want to make it more competitive, I'll make a separate deck guide for it.

For right now, the monsters used for the stall tactics:

Dai-Sojo of the Ice Barrier

******    Attribute: Water

[Spellcaster/Effect]

When this card is Normal or Flip Summoned, it is changed to Defense Position. Face-up "Ice Barrier" monsters you control cannot be destroyed by Spell or Trap Card effects.

ATK: 1600   DEF: 2200

This card prevents your cards from being destroyed by Spell and Trap Cards.

Secret Guards of the Ice Barrier

**   Attribute: Water

[Aqua/Effect]

Face-up "Ice Barrier" monsters you control cannot be targeted by the effects of your opponent's Effect Monsters.

ATK: 100   DEF: 1600

This card prevents your cards from being destroyed by Monster effects.

Defender of the Ice Barrier

***   Attribute: Water

[Aqua/Effect]

While you control another face-up "Ice Barrier" monster, monsters your opponent controls cannot declare an attack if their ATK is greater than or equal to this card's DEF.

ATK: 100   DEF: 1600

This card can prevent your opponent from attacking your monsters. When this card is set-up, your opponent will have a hard time trying to destroy your monsters by battle, especially if you use Dai-Sojo of the Ice Barrier and Secret Guards of the Ice Barrier.

Other than that, you use the Ice Barrier Effect Generals as your way out.

Sample Deck List:

2x Caravan of the Ice Barrier

3x Dai-Sojo of the Ice Barrier

3x Defender of the Ice Barrier

General Gantala of the Ice Barrier

General Grunard of the Ice Barrier

General Raiho of the Ice Barrier

3x Prior of the Ice Barrier

3x Secret Guards of the Ice Barrier

2x Strategist of the Ice Barrier

Dark Hole

Heavy Storm

3x Magic Triangle of the Ice Barrier

3x Medallion of the Ice Barrier

Monster Reborn

3x Moray of Greed

2x Mystical Space Typhoon

Pot of Avarice

3x Salvage

3x Water Hazard

Extra Deck:

Ally of Justice Catastor

Ally of Justice Decisive Armor

Ancient Fairy Dragon

Armory Arm

Black Rose Dragon

Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

2x Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier

Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

Magical Android

Mist Wurm

Red Dragon Archfiend

Scrap Dragon

Stardust Dragon

Tech Genus Hyper Librarian

Rate, comment, fix, thoughts, and discuss. Enjoy!

Thoughts

I'm considering doing the following:

• Make an Ice Barrier Guide since Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier is banned, and make a sample build to get an idea of what to utilize with Ice Barriers.
• Make a Plant Deck Guide, since Spore and Glow-Up Bulb are banned, and make a sample build to get an ide of what to utilize with Plants (and maybe include Reborn Tengu. I'm not sure yet).
• Make a T.G. Stun Deck Guide since T.G. Striker became limited, and make a sample build to get an idea of what to utilize with T.G. Stun decks, currently.
• Make an Agent Deck Guide since The Agent of Mystery - Earth became limited, and make a sample build to get an idea of what to utilize with Agent decks, currently.

As for the other blog, I haven't been able to complete some tasks, so I'm putting that blog on hold until next week sometime.

If you have any suggestion on any deck guide(s) I should make, let me know by commenting, and I'll add it to the list of what I'm considering to do.

~~~

What I've noticed this format is that nothing has changed from last format, sadly, so prior decks I made can still be good in this coming format. It'll be not one of the three decks that are considered Tier 1, but it'll be a fun, competitive deck to utilize during this format.

Would it be interesting to try rather than dealing with the same 3 decks constantly dueling, or would you rather create an idea that can compete with decks on a fun, creative, and innovative level? The choice is yours.

Yu-gi-oh! Deck Guide - Lightrays - Part 2

With this set, I would point out the last card of the four that have been shown already, and elaborate on my thoughts on that card: Lightray Sorceror.

First, the card in question (card text from Dueling Network):

Lightray Sorcerer

******  Attribute: Light

[Spellcaster/Effect]

Cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. Must be Special Summoned (from your hand) by having 3 or more banished LIGHT monsters, and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. Once per turn: You can target 1 of your banished LIGHT monsters and 1 face-up monster on the field; shuffle that banished target into the Deck, and banish that target. This card cannot attack during the turn this effect is activated.

ATK: 2300   DEF: 2000

So, this card can let you reuse Lights that you have removed from the game and remove one card your opponent controls as well. The drawback is that it cannot attack that turn you use the effect. So, such cards that you can reuse are listed below:

• Fortune Lady Lighty
• Cyber Valley
• Thunder King Rai-oh
• D.D. Warrior Lady
• ...and several others.

Sample Deck List:

2x Caius the Shadow Monarch

3x Cyber Valley

3x D.D. Survivor

3x D.D. Warrior Lady

3x Lightray Sorcerer

2x Raiza the Storm Monarch

3x Thunder King Rai-oh

Dark Hole

3x Dimensional Fissure

Heavy Storm

2x Mystical Space Typhoon

3x Pot of Duality

Reinforcement of the Army

3x Macro Cosmos

Return from the Different Dimension

Solemn Judgment

2x Solemn Warning

Starlight Road

2x Torrential Tribute

Rate, fix, comments, thoughts, and discuss. Enjoy!

Yu-gi-oh! Deck Guide - Lightrays - Part 1

Well, for this session, I'm looking into Lightray monsters that can have some really good benefits. So, without further ado, let's start with the 3 Lightray monsters that require a certain number or more of LIGHT monsters in the Graveyard: (all effects listed are from Dueling Network)

Lightray Daedalus

*******     Attribute: Light

[Sea Serpent/Effect]

Cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. Must be Special Summoned (from your hand) by having 4 or more LIGHT monsters in your Graveyard, and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. Once per turn: You can target 3 cards on the field, 1 of the 3 being a Field Spell Card; destroy them.

ATK: 2600   DEF: 1500

When using certain decks, this monster would face-off against anything that utilizes Field Spell Cards, such as Gravekeepers or Fusion Gate. If the opponent uses a Field Spell Card like that, you can target that Field Spell and 2 cards they control and destroy them. It literally becomes a +3, when that happens.

Next card:

Lightray Diabolos

*******   Attribute: Light

[Dragon/Effect]

Cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. Must first be Special Summoned (from your hand) by having 5 or more LIGHT monsters with different names in your Graveyard. Once per turn: You can banish 1 LIGHT monster from your Graveyard and target 1 Set card your opponent controls; look at that target, then return it to the top or the bottom of its owner's Deck.

ATK: 2800  DEF: 1000

I would certainly use it when I'm using another Lightray monster as well, because it ensures that I can force my opponent to top-deck a set card they have on the Field, or it ensures that you'll never have to worry about that set card ever again.

Next card:

Lightray Gearfried

********   Attribute: Light

[Warrior/Effect]

Cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. Must be Special Summoned (from your hand) by having 5 or more LIGHT monsters with different names in your Graveyard, and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. Once per turn, when a Spell or Trap Card is activated while the face-up monsters you control are only Warrior-Type: You can banish 1 Warrior-Type monster from your Graveyard; negate the activation and destroy the card.

ATK: 2800   DEF: 2200

This card would work well, in general, with any LIGHT deck that utilizes Warrior-type monsters; however, if you decide to swarm with the Lightray cards, then this effect cannot be used. Otherwise, it is a good for anything that utilizes LIGHT Warrior-type monsters.

And without further ado, here's the sample deck list for the three listed above:

Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning

2x Card Trooper

Celestia, Lightsworn Angel

Ehren, Lightsworn Monk

Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior

Honest

Jain, Lightsworn Paladin

3x Judgment Dragon

2x Lightray Daedalus

2x Lightray Diabolos

2x Lightray Gearfried

2x Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner

Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress

2x Necro Gardna

Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter

2x Summoner Monk

Wulf, Lightsworn Beast

Book of Moon

Charge of the Light Brigade

Dark Hole

Heavy Storm

Mind Control

Monster Reborn

3x Monster Reincarnation

Pot of Avarice

Reinforcement of the Army

3x Solar Recharge

Extra Deck:

2x Daigusto Emeral

3x Lavalval Chain

3x Number 39: Utopia

2x Number 50: Black Corn

3x Queen Dragun, the Dragon Majin

2x Steelswarm Roach

Anyway, rate, comment, fix, thoughts, questions, and discuss. Enjoy!