Digitalist Profile, 7

Before we go any further into today’s post, I would like to wish the best of luck to both Team MYM (Malaysia) and Team Koi (Singapore). Have a safe trip guys and enjoy your time in Hong Kong. Don’t forget to bring back some Hong Kong dim sum! Also, a shout out to High Level Gaming! Most of you have probably visited the blog and if you have not do check them out. The  blog features authors Johann Loke (awesomehazelnuts) and Wesley Seek (lambyseries). Last but not least, Sazabi. A blog run by respectable players so expect quality posts in there. With all the greetings done, let’s dive into the deck.

HIERATICS EXODIUS

 

MAIN DECK:

Card Car D x3

Hieratic Dragon of Su x3

Hieratic Dragon of Tefnuit x3

Hieratic Dragon of Eset x3

Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord x3

Maxx "C" x2

Tragoedia x2

Effect Veiler x2

Gorz, Emissary of Darkness x1

Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon x1

Wattaildragon x1

Emerald Dragon x1

Black Luster Soldier-Envoy of the Beginning x1

(Monsters-26)

Mystical Space Typhoon x3

Forbidden Lance x2

Pot of Duality x2

Hieratic Seal of Convocation x2

Monster Reborn x1

Heavy Storm x1

(Spells-11)

Reckless Greed x2

Compulsory Evacuation Device x2

(Traps-4)

EXTRA DECK:

Black Rose Dragon x1

Ancient Sacred Wyvern x1

Tiras, Keeper of Genesis x1

Number 61: Volcasaurus x1

Number 25: Force Focus x1

Inzektor Exa-Beetle x1

Photon Streak Bouncer x1

Swordbreaker x1

Sacred Ptolemys Messier 7 x2

Hieroglyph Dragon King-Atumus x2

Gaia Dragoon, the Thunder Charger x2

Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Gustav Max x1

I will not go into the combos as this deck still functions like standard Hieratics but slightly faster in terms of picking up combo pieces. Basically, this variant of Hieratics reverts back to the originality of Hieratics in the beginning with Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord as a replacement for Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon. It’s a One-Turn-Kill deck that excels in the 3-Cards-OTK strategy capitalizing on the might of Gustav Max and Sacred Ptolemys Messier 7. When you don’t go for the kill you farm and vice versa. There are some choices of cards here that might confuse you so I’ll do a bit of explanation.

HAND TRAPS

Maxx “C” needs no explanation and introduction as we all know how conventionally well it works against Wind-Ups and Atlantean Mermails. Tragoedia and Gorz are commonly seen in Hieratics and they serve as your defensive measure. Dropping an early Tragoedia usually kicks the deck’s standard combo into gear if you have ample amount of back-row hate while Gorz can also serve as an equalizer when you don’t open with the best of hand cards (Hieratics are famous for that.) 

I still run Effect Veilers due to the diversity of the Meta in my country. Other than that, hand traps are arguably a better form of defense for Hieratics. That is my opinion of course. With Veilers around you have an increase of advantage against random matches (Inzektors being one of those randies.) A side note, these hand traps works well with M7 as it sometimes gives you bullshit advantage against your opponents depending on which does what.  

COMPULSORY EVACUATION DEVICE

A stellar card against ever-growing threats like Thunder King Rai-Oh, Archlord Krystia, Inverz Roach, Verz Ophion, and Number 16: Shock Ruler (just to name a few.) Compulsory puts in work whenever you want it to and it does a wonderful job avoiding back-row hate. Ideally, it is something that serves to nullify any form of harmful scenarios but it also plays a big role in saving your much needed combo pieces. It’s a good card and that’s all to it.

RECKLESS GREED

First of all, this is an experiment I am trying out. Why Reckless Greed? To start off, it is in general a plus one when blown by cards like Mystical Space Typhoon though it comes with a huge drawback of skipping your next two Draw Phases. There are times when you hold every combo piece you need and lack general cards that allows you to close the game while sometimes you find yourself in a situation where one more monster or spell can help you regain footing whichever the situation is Reckless Greed MIGHT give you a leap of fate. No doubt it is a big gamble but playing this card at the right time can be pretty fucking amazing. 

It requires a lot of training to know when to flip it up and in depth knowledge of your deck’s ratio is definitely a must have when running this card. This card paired with Card Car D could provide it’s user with a dream opening (if only he or she is holding the proper hand cards to play on.) Of course, this idea functions under the conception of the-more-you-have-the-better-your-chances but what supports it is LUCK which isn’t exactly a solid foundation. Remember you only need three cards to end the game. Feel free to try it out and I must say it is fun to hold more nine cards to your opponent’s five (or something likewise.) If you do not fancy Reckless Greed, switch it with Call of the Haunted or Night Shot. Both options does magic in Hieratics! Not a bad alternative if you must.

Alright, we have come to yet another end and hopefully readers enjoyed this evening’s update. Digital Mortal will be back again with more interesting posts. Do leave a comment if you have any questions and I will do my best to answer them. Let me know what’s in your mind. All and all, thank you for dropping by and remember to play smart, fight hard, or go home a loser!

A Jolly Good Fellow

Ever since Chaos Dragons dominated the TCG everyone saw Future Fusion entering the list and Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon eventually going to one. This has indirectly caused the downfall of another deck. No shit, that deck is Hieratics. While people exaggerate on with Hieratics being dead due to REDMD going to one, some parts remain true the rest bull. 3-Card-OTKs were no longer possible unless you hold a Tefnuit or Eset with double Su while running triple Atumus in your Extra Deck. Applying that technique means your end result consist of triple Gaia Dragoon, a zero stats REDMD, and a random dragon (usually Wattaildragon) making a possible final push of 10300 damage (2600+2600+2600+2500). So, what’s the problem here? Problem to that is consistency and variation in terms of tactics. By doing so you are effectively leaving yourself vulnerable to Gorz or Tragoedia due to the absence of Photon Streak Bouncer and Force Focus in your attempt for victory. 2600 and 2500 aren’t exactly big enough at times.

One of the most adopted methods was switching to defensive builds like Hanzo Hieratics or dropping the deck straight up (talking about Asia Advanced format in the past before promos were legalized.) Hanzo Hieratic gives you that added consistency and variation by sacrificing one-two-punch combinations. Super-Transformation plays were effective enough either way as offensive and defensive tactics. The deck also opens up to the addition of more Traps which standard Hieratics never had due to tight slot. I enjoyed playing Hanzo Hieratic but never liked it compared to pure OTK builds. Eventually I went for a rabid tech hunt looking for an innovation that would bring Hieratics to the next level. Before introducing the tech I have been playing with I would like to clarify that I am not claiming to be the first person ever to have implemented it in Hieratics but I am certainly one of the first few to have experimented with it. Here’s the card!

                       (http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Exodius_the_Ultimate_Forbidden_Lord)

Exodius is a Level 10, DARK, and a free summon. It isn’t hard to see why Exodius is the prime candidate to replace Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon in Hieratics and with that kind of stats it isn’t that far off to assume what Exodius does best in Hieratics. Yes, having the ability to consistently aid Hieratics in their OTK combos by bringing out the dreaded Gustav Max is why this card is as important as Tragoedia in this deck. Exodius gives Hieratics back their best in terms of 3-Card-OTK strategy. While Tragoedia has been giving Hieratics access to Nasty Gustav as well I find it best to rely on Tragoedia as a means of defense instead of dropping it then go YOLO with your hand cards attempting a knock out (unless you are sure that you absolutely have game of course.) In a nutshell, running Exodius translate to you getting to keep Tragoedia for other purposes while constantly have what It takes to drop Nasty Gustav on the field. Though I would comment on how well both cards work together as a means to pressure your opponents (depending on the situation you are in.) However, I do hate this card very much. While it deserves credits for bringing back Hieratics to their best form it will contribute to turning them into a no-brainer-deck at the same time. I’m not saying it’s bad for a deck to have a standard go-to-combo but effectively abandoning other winning conditions the deck has is just plain stupid. So, yeah, shit gets turn into auto-pilot. 

What I do love about this card is the ability to recycle back your monsters for free. Reloading your combo pieces back helps prevent you from encountering situations whereby you want to make a play but lack certain cards (applies to monsters only.) Other than that it helps you recycle back important hand traps. Exodius helps put your Extra Deck back intact as well. I am talking about moments when Atumus or M7 got busted by Solemn Warning and shit like that. Or those times when you failed to OTK and ate Dark Hole the next turn. Usually Hieratics go bye-bye as soon as they empty out their Extra Deck of reliable boss monsters so having Exodius’ Pot of Avarice ability really does help prevent some of those moments from happening. But beware that doing so also means you lose Graveyard advantage and I would advise readers to keep an eye on it regarding that matter. You don’t want to draw into a BLS during top-deck moments and have no targets in your Graveyard. Apart from everything that has been said I don’t think there’s more to add to. Do comments if you have questions or more to add in. That’s all for today folks. Thank you for reading!

From Now On I Shall Believe In The Words Of Prophet GQ

Today is Malaysia Top Store 2012 and here is my report on it. I basically started the day being half-awake and made my way to KL feeling dazed as hell. Well, it is a “major” tournament but the lack of overseas trip in the prize wasn’t exactly exciting if I must say though that being the case I did not want to perform poorly. To be honest, I was there because I earned a spot earlier on and at this point I probably had enough of competitive Yugioh for this year. Without further ado, enjoy my side of the report. My so-called idol decided to sleep at home with his Crystal Beast.

Malaysia Top Store 2012

Format: 5 Rounds of Swiss cut to Top 8

Deck Used: Hieratics

ROUND 1 (Heroes, Heng Johnson)

GAME 1: I drew utter garbage and Tragoedias weren’t good enough to stall until I could make a comeback. Too many back-rows and too little cards for me to spare so basically I got KOed for no apparent reason. Absolute Zero is a big bitch.

GAME 2: Raioh says hello and smacks him to death.

GAME 3: I dropped Gorz earlier and wall up to prevent Absolute Zero from having suicidal thoughts. We both drew and passed for a couple of turns but I still could not draw into cards I need to close this game for good. A few turns later I ate a Mask Change, Miracle Fusion, and Excalibur. Definitely regretted my decision regarding Puppet Plants.

XOX

(0-1)

ROUND 2 (Dark Worlds, Mun Yen Ho)

GAME 1: I drew decent stuff but Grapha had answers to all my beaters. Ate an early Skill Drain and got stuck with Force Focus to hold field. As soon as Gates hit the field it was GG for me. Grapha destroyed my camera and it went downhill from there on.

GAME 2: This time I opted to push for early damage with M7 and Gustav  Max. Macro Cosmos was on field and life seems good at this point but he top-decked a Duality and revealed Dark Hole! Field got smashed and took a Trance Archfiend poke. My turn to top-deck, I open Hieratic Seal of Convocation, searched out Tefnuit, and Special Summoned it to prevent myself from taking anymore unnecessary damage. Guess what? He tops a Tour Guide and went YOLO with Acid Golem. I prayed to God and rip Black Luster Soldier-EOTB from the top of my deck to close this game. Yugioh happened people, Yugioh happened.

GAME 3: Early Macro sealed the game and Hieratics did their usual job. One turn kill baby!

XOO

(1-1)

ROUND 3 (Heroes, Woon Kai Yi)

GAME 1: Miscalculated, misplayed, and got outsourced. I think I was half-asleep.

GAME 2: Early farming with Card Car D and M7 gave me some pretty solid control and I went for the OTK as soon as Heavy Storm decided to grace me with its presence. Thank you very much!

GAME 3: I fell asleep again. Miscalculated, misplayed, and got outsourced. His back-rows prevented me from going into M7 and I took a Gagaga Gunman to the knee. I seriously regret taking out Puppet Plants from my Side-Deck.

XOX

(1-2)

ROUND 4 (Agents, Sorry I forgot your name)

GAME 1: Maxx “C” says hello to Venus while Photon Streak Bouncer held my field long enough. Master Hyperions aren’t good enough when Forbidden Lance stabs them during Damage Step.  

GAME 2: Raioh beat! Maxx “C” raped! Force Focus and Photon Streak Bouncer stood around attending to their own roles. Good game much.

OO

(2-2)

ROUND 5 (Six Sams, Ivan Chen)

GAME 1: M7 and Effect Veiler controlled the board. I drew double Veilers and kept on recycling them with M7’s effect until he had no more resources to spare. Seriously M7 is messed up!

GAME 2: He had nothing and I did everything. YOLO!

OO

(3-2)

I didn’t manage to squeeze into Top 8. To be honest, I was rather disappointed but what could I have done? The only matches I lost were to Heroes and if I had Puppet Plant things would have gone the other way around. Moral of the day, keep my Plants in as long as Heroes continue to roam the Meta. As usual we had fun and all. Check out GQ’s post for the rest of our eventful day after entering the scrub corner. Man, the jokes we cracked! From now on I shall keep in mind with whatever LGQ says and quotes because it was damn accurate. That earned him the prophet title. No shit guys! I’ll be back with more informative and interesting articles in the next few days. Thank you for stopping by!

Fly Your Own Flag

These days I have been on and off Yugioh-related activities. I haven’t completely abandoned Yugioh and preparations for Top Store this coming Sunday are in progress. Not sure if this is the right way to feel but I am almost not worried at all and my mind remains calm (hopefully I don’t get the nerves on the day itself.) However so far everything is running on the right track. There are no second guesses with the top competitors of this tournament, Mermails is the deck to beat (the rest is secondary issues.) Having said that, the overall Meta will consist of Agents, Dark Worlds, Heroes, and Wind-Ups in the bunch as I believe. Rogues will be rogues I suppose. 

Lately, I have been giving a certain card ample amount of attention. While this card might not be the brightest among all but it serves a great purpose in certain kinds of decks. What kind decks you ask? Namely Anti-Meta beat variants that rely solely on cards like Skill Drain to control the board accompanied by big beaters such as Beast King Barbaros, Fusilier Dragon the Dual-Mode Beast, and the usual suspects. As many of you might have guessed by now that card is non-other than The Seal of Orichalcos. If you construct a deck mainly consisting of 1900 ATK and above monsters than plus 500 ATK to them, what would happen? It’s not even a dogfight anymore! 

                                    (http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/The_Seal_of_Orichalcos)

At first sight, Orichalcos isn’t exactly the best of cards to tech or run due to the torrential amount of drawbacks it floods it’s user with. With that said, in the right deck (like the one mentioned above) it could be an asset you don’t want to leave out. Nifty once per turn destruction immunity which is annoyingly good (though only being able to activate this card once per duel isn’t exactly attractive.) Getting your opponents to waste cards is always a good tactic. Bear in mind that I am only suggesting The Seal of Orichalcos as a tech for decks that can get the job done with big beaters alone (due to the tasty 500 addition ATK points.) An interesting thought would be siding Orichalcos in a Dark World deck. That addition 500 boosts basically turn a majority of mostly ran Dark World monsters a tribute target for Deck Devastation Virus which in return wrecks Wind-Ups and to a certain extent, Mermail variants. Well, Gates does make Beiige and Snoww big but Seal makes them bigger. So, yeah, in a way the bigger the better (not necessarily?) Perhaps if you would like to duke it out a different way in a mirror match, Orichalcos might be one of the solutions (I am just saying.) A Grapha which is bigger than another Grapha, man, the thought of that is simply amusing! Frankly, steamrolling the opposition is already nasty enough. Ultimately, Orichalcos is fucked up. Do share if any readers have been playing around with this card.

On a side note, a big part of why I am blogging is because of the feed-backs you receive at the end of your article. It is such an important form of communication that can be found commonly yet so rarely seen these days. You can own a Facebook account with hundreds or maybe even thousands of friends but still find it unlikely to interact in this manner (maybe it's just me.) May it be positive or negative (constructive or personal comments), either way you get something out of it at the end of the day. Well, I can't speak for everyone but this is how I feel about it. You learn so much from just a few comments. This is something I thought I had to share with my readers and I appreciate all the support everyone has given to this blog. This is a reminder for me to always thank those who have taught and helped me. Thank you for reading!