Max's (most likely incorrect) metagame analysis

Hello cardhousians first thing's first my sincerest apologies for my neglect to my part of the blog. My internet went down went on holidays had crap to do yadayadayada but I'm back and ready to analyse the meta, WOOOOO. So first thing's first most predictions thought we'd say madolche artifact and slyvan wrecking everything. What ended up happening will be discussed in the later paragraphs with little discussions on each deck and where I think said deck is going. Also stick around because at the end of the post I will give off my banlist predictions (rather early i guess) and predictions for after the next set! Without further ado lets kick it off with possibly the best deck this format.

H.A.T this name stands for hands artifacts traptrix if you didn't know, it may be just me but the deck reminds me of firefists in the way they dominate the grind game and simplify the game state. Why is this deck going so well? In my opinion is that it rarely bricks due to its searching and almost always has a play, this deck has so many plus 1's its not even funny and there's not that much you can do game one other than otk or win in the first couple of turns. How to beat this deck? Soul drain dominates the hands and veiler and breakthrough and fiendish dominate the traptrix and the artifacts are not focussed upon enough in the deck to the point where if you protect your effect negation you will be able to push through. Pretty much effect negation for days!

Madolche my personal favourite, we originally saw this deck released in return of the duelist with magiline and mew and the field spell among other small support cards, in abyss rising we saw messengelato and other cards tachyon we saw hootcake and with all these madolche still wasnt great. Then we saw angelly and it made the deck tier 1/1.5 we have been seeing them win and top some top events. This deck is going well because it stuns and plusses with its best combo with mew and anjelly returning two cards to the deck and getting a great set up with follow up plays for days. How can i counter this deck. VEILER THE MEW OR STOP THE NORMAL SUMMON. If you can do this they don't have much they can do so stop the normal stop the deck.

Geargia is still slipping its way into the top on a consistent basis with its insane consistency and ability to drop rank 4's all duel. Geargia focusses on flipping and setting geargiarmor which leads it to get accelerator and making rank 4 plays. Add this with their consistent recycling and explosiveness and you have a duel on your hands. Why is it doing well? It has possibly the best rank 4 toolbox in the game and plusses as well as any other deck. How to combat it? Stop armor destroy armor win. Effect negation is key and also not letting it get its effect off.

Those in my opinion are the three top decks due to checking tops personal experience and research. Now we can lead on to my banlist predictions!

1. ban nothing i can think of that needs to be banned instantly
2. limit geargiaccellerator and madolche angelly
3. semi limit the hands and soul charge
4 put dmoc and relinquished to one
Thanks for listening to my most probably flawed  opinion. Have a great day and keep on dueling!

P.S Chad i need to get that angelly off you on Saturday!

Shhh... It's a Secre- SHUDDUP!

    The pursuit of power is a deadly game. To survive the machinations of the Card House, you need strength as well as leverage. The right allies can bring riches, but the throne is only a well-timed betrayal...

    Oh, and do remember that your allies can do the same to you.

    Conspiracy is a new set based around drafting and multiplayer Magic. Wizards of the Coast is literally banking on the popularity of EDH/Commander's free-for-all multiplayer. So like any other money-hungry corporation they of course created an entire set of multiplayer-focused mechanics, including a gimmiky cards that affect the draft itself!

    Chris described it as 'drafted EDH lite', and I see no reason to disagree with his call.
How this works?

• Each player starts the game with 20 life.
• In multiplayer games, you draw seven cards rather than six the first time you take a mulligan.
• The game uses Free-for-All rules, so you can attack multiple players and/or Planeswalkers during combat.
• Last man standing, Wins! (Damn it wizards, requiring me to stand, just like with the National Anthem!)

Draft Abilities

    Conspiracy includes something no Magic set ever has: cards that have abilities that affect the draft itself.

    Cards with draft abilities have a wide range of effects, so read each carefully so you know what to do. If you're using a draft ability, speak up! There's an large opening below your nostrils that you can use to generate sound along with muscle groups in your neck and tongue. Use them to let the table know what's going on. Blake, i'm looking at you here for not doing so.

    During the draft, there's no stack, turn order, or priority. If two or more players want to use a draft ability at the same time, then the order is decided by the only means available: A bloody round of no-hold-barred street brawl where the order is decided by who lives. I will take the drafts of the fallen while no-one is looking! First in, first serve!

    You may find it helpful during the draft to make sure all players draft and pass booster packs at the same time. That is, don't let booster packs "pile up" behind any player. Blake Manning, I'm looking at you here again!

    If an ability tells you to draft a card face up, leave it face up in front of you, next to your face-down pile of drafted cards (no jokes about this being like the way I stack coins here).  It stays face up until you turn it face down (the card will tell you when to do this) or it goes somewhere else, like back into a booster pack.

    If an ability tells you to reveal a card as you draft it, you show everyone you're drafting the card. The card may have additional instructions. Many of them tell you to note some information, like a number, the name of a card, or a player.  So at the draft, get your crayons, pens, pencils and something to write on. This noted information will be used in the game.

Conspiracies

    <drops his voice down to a whisper>

    Conspiracy (the card set) introduces a new card type called 'conspiracies' to play in these Conspiracy drafts (the format). Sadly, they aren't legal even in 'vanilla' edh, or any other format for that matter. I was dissapointed to learn that conspiracies aren't able to be included in your deck. Here's why I'm disappoint;.

• Conspiracies start the game in the command zone (much like your commander in a Commander game). You put every conspiracy you drafted into the command zone as the game begins.  They can't be countered/destroyed because like emblems, there aren't cards that can target them.
• They don't count toward your deck size, so you still need a deck with a minimum of forty cards for a Conspiracy Draft deck. I was hoping that conspiracies would/could become a new 'ante' deck filler. ('Ante' were cards that made you Wager/Gamble cards from your deck in exchange for game-breaking power. In games that didn't allow 'Ante' meant you could remove them/thin out your deck without penalty.

    TBH, I was hoping to add one of every Conspiracy to my deck as a way to thin my Relentless Rat deck.

    The abilities of conspiracies work from the command zone. And those abilities can affect the game in some wacky ways. For example, with Power Play, there's no need to roll for starting player... Unless your rivals also have it. I was hoping to add it,  so I always go first. The Relentless Rats would gain +1/+1 ala 'Muzzio’s Preparations', -1 from their mana cost ala 'Brago’s Favor', gain haste ala 'Immediate Action', become a mana source ala 'Secrets of Paradise'. (Also start the game with a 1/1 Construct with Defender ala Sentinel Dispatch.)

Hidden Agenda
    Some conspiracies have an ability called hidden agenda.

    These conspiracies have you secretly name a card before the game begins. Perhaps the easiest way to do this is write the name on a piece of paper and keep it with the face-down conspiracy. Hopefully, you can name a card you've drafted multiples of. Any time you have priority during the game, you can turn the conspiracy face up and reveal the chosen name and what bonus the conspiracy gives cards with that name.

Imagine the looks on your opponents' faces when they discover your creatures actually have haste or... um, other secret abilities.

Dethrone

    If you want to assume the throne, start with removing the person already there... <normal volume> Actually there is really no reason to add this, because I'm a benevolent ruler. I'm sure if you were to meet me and my ... ah... shadow advisor, we can find a solution to your complaints.

    Anyway, I will recount this for the sake of 'transparency'. Dethrone triggers whenever a creature with dethrone attacks the player with the most life or tied for the most life. When the ability resolves, you put a +1/+1 counter on the creature. This happens before blockers are declared. Once the ability triggers, it doesn't matter what happens to anybody's life total. If the defending player doesn't have the most life when the ability resolves, the creature will still get the +1/+1 counter. Note that dethrone won't trigger if the creature attacks a Planeswalker. You're going after the crown, after all, not the royal advisors. If you have the most life, your dethrone abilities won't trigger, but you may find a few choice ways to avoid that situation.

Will of the Council

    New 'will of the council' abilities let the table determine what's going to happen. I see no reason why we need 'democracy' when I already act in the best interests of my fellow cardhousians.

    This is the means that I was stabbed in the back;  My 'ally' Rachel cast my Stasis-Pod'ed, tapped Heartless Hidetsugu and defensive constructs as more dangerous then her flying and trampling horde, before dropping the Voting card down when I sought to save my Vent Elemental.

    Each will of the council ability calls for the players to vote. Starting with you and proceeding in turn order, each player announces his or her vote. Everyone has to vote—no abstaining! Sometimes you'll be voting between two effects, like the grace or condemnation effects of Magister of Worth. Other cards may have you voting on different creatures, or colors, or... um... other things. Once everyone has voted, tally up the results to see what happens. Players can't do anything once the vote has begun. That is, you can respond to Magister of Worth's ability, but once it starts resolving, you can't interrupt the vote by casting a spell or activating an ability.
    Everyone gets one vote. I thought I didn't sign the Magna Carta precisely for this reason!
    If you somehow have multiple votes, for whatever special favor you did for me, you make them all at the time you'd normally vote. As the reminder text reminds us, you could spread the votes around or you can load them all up on one choice that benefits me. Some older cards, like Archangel of Strife, have players make choices but don't use the word "vote." Keep in mind that Brago's Representative applies only to abilities that use the word "vote" (that is, just will of the council abilities... for now MWAHAHAHAH!).

Parley

    Sometimes, opening dialogue with others is the best answer.

    Parley abilities instruct each player to reveal the top card of his or her library. Then, an additional effect happens based on the number of nonland cards revealed this way. Finally, each player draws a card (the one that was just revealed). Just as we saw with will of the council abilities, you can respond to most parley abilities (Selvala, Explorer Returned has a parley mana ability that can’t be responded to) , but once one starts resolving, no one can do anything until the ability completely finishes resolving.

    Alright, there's the round-up on the Conspiracy Format. I was only able to buy a single box ATM, but Ideally I want to get my hands on another 3 more and create a 'Conspiracy Cube', (or second 'Conspiracy Cube' as that's what I named my room/flat.)

    I just want to remind you of the Saturday 12th July Pre-release of M15. Whether you are a veteran Planeswalker, a novice planeswalker, or a yugioh duelist who is still reading this for some reason, you better get your arse in on this action! 8 boosters per player, bonus items for all players, free pizza, random prizes, and if I can get Chelsea lined up to do photography, a chance to hit on my Legal-aged sister!.
    Don't know how to play Magic? I'm sure I have a spell for that The Magic players: eH's a pretty cool guys. They taught an idiot/me to play and who doesn't afraid of anything. First time for everything!
   

An Appology.

Fellow Cardhousians, I need to apologize for quite a few things, and say a pre-emptive "shut-up" to Harley and Tim who would chime in with "Only a Few?":

1. I'm sorry that this blog has been more neglected then that poor goldfish I had when I was 6 years old.

The Sunday after the pre-release, I was sent back to hospital for being 'too hot'... An Infection from the previous surgery.

When I tried to post, my computer said 'No' while in hospital (again), and refused to connect to the internet.

I probably could have used my mobile, but alas just couldn't be stuffed re-writing the entire entry on my mobile. Tiny buttons and a tiny screen are a pain in the ... (wait can't feel it,) ahem to be perfectly frank with you all.

And let's not forget about the young student Nurses... Had one give me a foot-rub, who became more concerned when I didn't feel it. Poor girl didn't get the memo that I'm a paraplegic! Good times.

2. I'm sorry that part of the neglect includes the 3rd of the month draw.

Let's rectify that by me rolling for the winners of the last 3 monthly draws now:

Troy C, Gumby, and Matt. Congrats guys, 3 packs each, just as normal.

3. I'm also sorry for being more pissy then a Daddy's girl who got the wrong-colour car at the Yu-Gi-Oh pre-release.

I actually have trained in using psychic powers... psycho powers for the more skeptical cardhousian.

I touched the pack, felt that it was full of more artefacts then my adopted-grandmother's room at the home when we were cleaning it out... (Rest in peace, Bunty)

Needless to say, I cracked open the packs after Kev wouldn't let me trade the bundle in after it didn't 'Feel right'. Lo-and-Behold, it was full of as much filler as my blog-posts!

Sadly I got mostly Artefacts, which proved more useless then me without my wheels. Someone at Konami, in their Wisdom, decided to only include in the set 1 card that removes traps only...

I would say "That's the Japanese for you", but then the calls of "Dat's Wacist" would be deafening, and I like how they improved chinese paper-folding.

At least I have my play-set of Hazy-Flame Hydra from it, so that's something. 
Just want to say congrats to Troy, and offer my condolences to Warren in the MLP:FiM pre-release. I totally wanted to hit that up, and bring more glitter then any male with self respect ought to have...

Now hopefully I can say without Jinxing it once again "It's good to be Home."

Harley thinks I'm bad at pre releases

After today, he couldn't be more wrong.

Today, myself and Warren went down to Guf Brisbane for the pre release of the latest set for the My Little Pony CCG, Canterlot Nights. There were quite a few familiar faces down there as well for a Magic tournament, though I didn't hear any of the details. I'm sure if you're interested you could ask Harley how things went and he'd be happy to vent about how badly he did tell you all about it.

People tend to refer to pre release tournaments as great equalisers, but no other pre release I've been to has given such a vibe as this one did. For starters, every participant was given one of the two theme decks and required to use that for the day. Naturally many a mirror match was in store, but everyone was on the most equal ground possible by using the same decks. That mean the results came down to equal parts skill and luck, and not who has the best cards.

I myself chose to use the Princess Luna/Rainbow Dash deck, more for the fact that my pre ordered Princess Celestia/Rarity deck showed up in the mail yesterday and I didn't want two copies than any actual tactical choice (admittedly some of the more competitive players there believed Luna was better anyway). I used Luna herself as my mane character in the first round and switched to Rainbow Dash for the second, deciding that RD seemed to fit my play style better and opted to keep her in charge for the remainder of the four rounds.

By the end of the day, I had three wins out of four. Lady Luck didn't want to give Warren the same treatment though, unfortunately seeming to prefer a swift kick in the nuts with four losses. In true Cardhousian spirit though he kept up the sportsmanship, having fun regardless of results.

Lady Luck seems to want me to play this game more though, at least in comparison to other games. Not only did I manage a solid 4th overall for the day, one of my prize boosters contained an ultra rare Granny Smith card (pictured above) and I even won the prize raffle for a bag of extra goodies. Now if only Primal Origin would behave in a similar manner and give me that last Galaxy-Eyes Prime Photon Dragon instead of my umpteenth Bujinki Amaterasu...

All in all a great day was had by every participant, including several newcomers to the game. I'll admit that it didn't seem to run quite as smoothly as if it were a Card House held event, but that's only a small matter. Remember if anyone is interested in learning how to play you can always ask me, and I'll be happy to show you.

On that note I'll probably not have to say much about ponies for a while now (and I'm sure most of you are tired of me waffling on about it anyway), so I'll leave this post here. I don't expect too many people who are gonna be at the Card House tomorrow for the Pokemon event at 11am are reading this anyway, but anyone who is I'll likely see you all there if work doesn't decide to call me in.

The Pokemon Professor, Troy

Pre releases, pre releases everywhere!

Pony warning for those of your who simply can't stand the sight of diminutive technicolour equines. If you can, you're welcome to read on.

As I said about this time last month, May was going to be big for card games. Late April saw the pre release of Journey Into Nyx for Magic, while early May saw both Flashfire for Pokemon and Primal Origin for Yu-Gi-Oh! pre release events. Finally, on the very last day of May we will be able to see a pre release event for Canterlot Nights, of the My Little Pony CCG.

"But hang on Troy, the Card House isn't running a pre release for Canterlot Nights!" I hear you cry. Well, this is true. However, that doesn't mean that there isn't going to be one anywhere. Saturday 31st May will see Guf Brisbane in Fortitude Valley host two pre release events for Canterlot Nights. If you're keen to go, both the 11am and 4pm events still have places open and you can see the details here. Don't worry Kev, we still have something special here.

The Premiere set laid the groundwork for the game, and Canterlot Nights will add quite a bit more to it. Not only will brand new variants of the Mane 6 Mane Character cards be added to the game, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are also given Mane Character cards as well as their own theme decks to come. Celestia will be a yellow card the same as Fluttershy, sharing her deck with Rarity and her white colour while Luna is a purple card just as Twilight Sparkle and comes with Rainbow Dash and her blue support.

Canterlot Nights will also see a few new keywords added to the game. Magic players will be familiar with the use of keywords, but in this case keywords are usually given to a colour which allows it to behave differently to other colours. I'll give you a quick rundown on the current keywords and their uses:


Blue - Swift (You may move this card for 1 fewer action tokens)
Orange - Stubborn (This card can still apply its power during faceoffs and the Score Phase even if exhausted)
Pink - Random (During a faceoff involving this card, if you flip a card with 1 power, you may ignore it and flip a new card)
Purple - Studious (When you wind a faceoff involving at least one of your characters with this keyword, gain 1 action token)
White - Inspired (At the start of your Main Phase, look at the top card of an opponent's deck and put it on either the top or bottom of that deck)
Yellow - Caretaker (+1 power while at a Problem with at least one of your Critter friends)

Canterlot Nights has given us the addition of a few generic keywords, which can be on any friend of any colour. The first one is mentioned above on the Twilight Velvet card, called Supportive. What it does is give the Supportive card a bonus equal to the number next to the keyword when that friend is at a problem with a Mane Character that shares its colour. In Twilight Velvet's case, she would gain that bonus while at a problem with either Twilight Sparkle or Princess Luna.

The next keyword to mention is Pumped. This one is rather interesting, as it doesn't give a constant bonus like Supportive but rather access to a cost ability that could definitely change how a game goes. If a character with Pumped is involved in a faceoff, you may choose to banish a card you flipped during that faceoff underneath it rather than put it on the bottom of your deck. Once you have cards underneath a Pumped character, you may then spend those cards at certain times to trigger an effect such as Chief Thunderhooves frightening an opponent's character. This can give you a great time advantage as it costs a further two action tokens to unfrighten a friend, which will slow your opponent significantly.

Unique is a concept that Magic players will recognise again. Unique works in the same way as Legendary does, in that while you can have multiple copies of such a card in your deck you may only have one of such a card on the field at any given time. There really isn't much else to say about Unique, so onto the last word.

Epic is the final new keyword, and it is used to denote a much more powerful troublemaker. In fact, two troublemakers from the Premiere set have been errata'd to have the Epic keyword (Nightmare Moon and Ahuizotl), most likely due to their Villain status. So far the only card that has made any use of this status is a new card in Canterlot Nights called Soothe the Savage Beast, which will cause an opponent's non-Epic troublemaker to lose all of its abilities and cannot gain further abilities during your Troublemaker Phase. While Epic doesn't seem to do much at this point, it is possible that further sets will build on that.

What cards am I looking forward to getting? At this point I am definitely liking Princess Celestia, Protector of Equestria as well as Sunset Shimmer. Princess Celestia is a great way of getting rid of an opponent's low powered troublemakers simply by playing her to a problem with a troublemaker there, paving the way to moving forward in the game as well as scoring extra points. On the opposite end, Sunset Shimmer is a troublemaker with the ability to banish an opponent's friend or resource beneath her until she leaves the field (at which point that card is returned to the opponent's hand). She is an excellent disruptive card as well as a high powered troublemaker with a power of 5. There are plenty of other cards that also add to the the current strengths of each colour, and I'm definitely wanting to reshape my deck to accommodate them.

That's all I have to say about Canterlot Nights. If you read through it, I really appreciate you doing so since I know not many people will enjoy this topic. Canterlot Nights will see its proper release on the 6th of June. Myself and Warren will be headed down there for the pre release, and we'll be sure to show what we call the Cardhousian Spirit and doctors insist is a mild form of intestinal cancer!

The Pokemon Professor, Troy

8 days and counting... No seriously!

Alright my fellow Cardhousians it is that time of year again... What time you all ask.... Well my birthday of course.

This year is nothing more special than the last but i have decided that for this birthday (especially as i am taking time off work for some RnR) I will be spending a few days at the card house building some new decks and testing them out. For that to happen however, I will need some opponents. So anyone interested in handing me a few losses i will be more than happy to be the looser as long as i get to play some cards >.<

With all the games i play, i will be looking to get in a few living card games as well (android: netrunner and StarWars LCG). These are two games that, along with patience, you need to actually read a small manual to learn how to play effectively. So todays blog will actually be an introduction to these two game (for anyone interested).

Lets start of with Android: Netrunner
.

So being an updated re-release of a game produced in 1996, many people would automatically just shrug it off and go back to their staple card games. Well I decided to pick this little beauty up and give it a shot (well i actually won it so it was sort of fate i guess). Set in a futuristic setting where big corps run the world, and the "underground" is run by hackers of every variety, Netrunner takes the age old war between secret agendas of the corps and the free thinking hackers to a new level.

The main goal of this game (depending on which side you choose to play hacker or corp) is to outwit your opponent and take control of his/her corporation (hacker), or to prevent your secrets falling into the wrong hands (corp).

My experience in this game is little (due to lack of interest in my friends group, or inability to play on my part), but what I have learned and come to love about Netrunner is that no matter how locked out you may be, there is always a back door into a system. You can probably tell i love playing as a hacker :)

A little complex to explain in full, this game is one you MUST play to get a feeling for. The use of viruses and hacking tools is amazingly accurate and the artwork leaves nothing to be desired. This is a perfect combination of new meets old and for many, this game presents a new challenge to overcome.

Shall we start the countdown to destruction now?



Star Wars, our old friend, and mentor. This amazing series of books, movies and everything has been brought together into one HELL of a card game. Choose your side, the force may be strong but the dark side has cookies :D

Once your side has been decided, you then can organise your troops. Be the lowlife of the universe and control the scum and villainy of the dark side or rise in the light and support the smugglers and spies. With everything you could want from the Star Wars universe, this game provides you more.

During my brief few games of this, I have come to love the intricate battle system and the unique draw style of the game. Using your opponents hand against them is always fun in a card game.

These two games are available through Kev and I will be bringing mine along for some dusting off and testing over the next few weeks.

For those who love a new game (and yes these are two player only (for now)), and also like a challenge, come on down and give these two amazing games a go :)

Well back to my countdown and back to the kitchen I go.

From all of us here in the universes of Cray, Star Wars, Netrunner and everywhere else, we wish you happy gaming and many wins and losses. For every win is good but every loss teaches us something and is much more valuable :)

AJ out!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Carefree-Celebi/1386146921611857#

Simple Side-Deck-Building for Simple Duelists

Alright Boys and Girls, after a long break due to medical issues, I am back with my side-Decking Tutorial. I also have pre-release articles for both the Theros MTG and tomorrow's Yugioh Primal Origin Pre-release.

Thanks to Troy, Max and Aaron for covering for me for the last 5 weeks, and I will have to do a bumper month draw for next month.

Anyway, I'll get through the backlog, but first-off the promised;


Part 7 - Side-Decking

It's a week after you needed it for Nationals, but as the case may be, luck of the draw.

I was also disappointed because I rang ahead and the organizers told me that the wheelchair wouldn't fit with their seating plans at the venue... I wrote a very strongly worded letter by hand and via email expressing my disappointment.

Oh, where was I? That sounds Right; For your side-deck, you want to add cards that will foil your opponents, but not you (too much).

Let's go through the 2 hardest Decks I have faced with my Blue-Eyes Deck (while my Hazy Flames sat on the Shelf), why they managed to make my experience hard, and what options I can add to the side-deck to stop it from slowing this cripple down!

 Kaiden's  Spellbook Prophecy - His decks have 3 x advantages: Spellbooks are a fast toolbox deck (using spells to search and recycle their deck),  they can lock down your ability to use spells unless you have a spellcaster on the field, and thirdly, The Priestess of Prophesy can target-remove anything on the field using her effects that discard spells.

For this, I'd need to counter spell lock-down by adding some side-able spellcasters, cards that counter deck searching, and traps/monster effects that counter his monster effects.

I believe Effect Veiler would work to stop 1 and 3, helping as a spellcaster and tuner like Maiden with Eyes of Blue as well as being a great hand-trap. Deck Lock-down would also buy me up to 3 turns each of Kaiden not searching his deck, (provided he hasn't locked down my ability to play spell cards). Last day of Witch and Breakthrough Strike are also alternatives that can help break the lock-down and stop priestess' effects respectively.

Totally Wish Tribe-Infecting Virus wasn't banned...

Fallon's Exodia Deck - I created that monster of a deck, and week after week she reminds me of the monster I created.

Exodia Decks rely on drawing the 5 pieces, or cards to help them get all 5 pieces like Card-car D. They can negate damage, and often use cards like Winged Kuriboh, Kuriboh, Kuribon, Waboku, Scapegoat and Marshmallon to stall me like nothing else. I would side Morphing Jar, but that's banned.

I need discard ability, to try and force her to discard a piece of Exodia from her hand, a means to negate card effects in the Graveyard. I already have the means to negate/destroy many of her draw cards, with the dark bribe for spells, and MST for any traps she may have set. Azure eyes also makes my dragons immune for a turn to trap effects, so that's another boon.


Breakthrough Strike can stop monster effects in the grave, like Card-car D's draw ability, Kuriboh's and Winged Kuriboh's damage nullifying effects. Effect Veiler would work against Marshmallon and as bonus protection from her counter-traps, I will chuck in a 3rd Dodger Dragon into the side deck.


What Will be side-decked?

3x Breakthrough Strike
3x Deck Lockdown
1x Dodger Dragon
3x Effect Veiler


Of course, as you face more opponents that trouble you, the side deck may eventually hit the maximum of 15, which means tough choices as to what to cull for more diversity, vs targeted counters for your opponent's deck. Finding the balance isn't easy, but it could mean the difference between 2nd and 9th or lower. (I am planning on the Top any time I want it. Mwahahahahahah!)

I'll see you all when I see you!

Chad.