Points Of Authority

As far as anyone is concern Dragon Rulers have been the talk of the year regardless of Prophecy or Evilswarm’s existence in the Meta. No other deck is as big of a priority as the legionnaire of draconian rulers. Whether or not Konami wishes to dethrone the strongest deck right now is about anybody’s guess and it remains a subjective matter to discuss. Malaysia World Championship Qualifiers 2013 ended right about a week ago and to everyone’s knowledge I ran Dragon Rulers because I had access to it not because I like that deck. The key aspect to decide the differences of your deck’s performance was originality. Prior to our WCQ, Singapore had their brutality contest and sure enough Dragon Rulers came out on top. The age of “exclusive knowledge” has long been a thing of the past due to the internet. Anyone with half a brain and a Facebook account easily have access to what the biggest game changing techs in trend are with that follows net-decking (may or may not be a good thing, you decide.) 

Forbidden Chalice and Enemy Controller were of two big guns that would decide how much leverage you have in the mirror match (because that’s the most important match up if you ran Dragons.) Vanity’s Emptiness came in later in effect of the “full circle cycle.”  Cards like those aforementioned were factors that will eventually decide whether or not you fight an uphill battle or simply cruise through. The thing about relevant techs is even if you are fighting an uphill battle they alone allow you to take the hill given the right circumstance. Still, such reasons are why duelists would die to obtain even a tiny bit of insight. After all of that, proceed to add in hand traps into the equation and your cancerous cocktail called a deck is complete. When everyone practically knows what techs to play and look out for it usually sums up to skill level differences but unfortunately sometimes things end up being decided by who has superior luck during that particular round. 

I wasn’t planning to win WCQ (almost zero preparation done) but I wasn’t too keen on losing out to “celestial luck” at the same time. With plenty of information circling around geared with a pretty accurate level of understanding towards how Malaysian players generally are, I found a simple solution that would fit the bill in my case. The answer was an old classic named Divine Wrath. I’ll keep this simple for you it’s a Speed 3 Counter Trap that kills on-field monster effects, blocks off threats from the hand and Graveyard also count the banish zone in all for the price of one hand card which isn’t really costly when you dump daddy dragon (sounds familiar?) If you are thinking why Divine Wrath over Raigeki Break the answer is obvious, it’s a counter trap. While RB gives you that added value to pop spells and traps it is easier to deal with compared to Divine Wrath but DW has its perks.

In match-ups like Prophecy, Batel is a common occurrence. Divine Wrath deals with it and makes sure no Spellcasters are on the field resulting to cards like Masters and Fate to be dead for the time being. You can add in Cisty and Junon into the list as well as Wisdom being an eyesore when the wrath of God goes down. This card is even better against Verz. There are tons of psychological fuck-ups you can play like allowing your opponent to extend into Verz Ophion (Castor plays and whatnot) before unleashing divine punishment on it. Rescue Rabbit is lunch/dinner/supper while Verz Kerykeion is a 1-for-2 (Kerykeion’s cost and itself) assuming you ditch daddy dragon. Aside from all the Main Deck mumbo jumbo, you have their Extra Deck wrapped up in the process. The amount of creativity cancer you can share is plentiful. The problem with Divine Wrath here is generic, draw it too late it becomes utter crap. However, it is an exploding pack of nails when you can use it during early or mid game in these two match-ups. 

As mentioned earlier, if you are running Dragons the most important match-up to pay attention to is against Dragons (side enough hate and play smart decks like Prophecy and Verz eventually crumbles.) The main purpose of Divine Wrath is to inflict more damage in the mirror match compared to what is already considered as conventional methods can do. Aside from having the potential ability of negating pesky hand traps like Maxx “C” and Effect Veiler at a cost of one hand card Divine Wrath buys you control over rhythm and pace in the battle of resources. Having the power in controlling the amount of colours your opponent gets to use could easily turn the game around. If they have one colour, that’s self-explanatory. If they have two or more, you basically limit their actions by restricting manipulation over one element (it could save you depending on the situation.) Divine Wrath also allows you to restart your opponent’s board through over-extension. For example, granting access to cards like Mermail Abyssgaios or Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack and then breaking their setup or plays. Paying attention to Extra Deck resources is equally important to how many colours you have in your Graveyard. It can be situational and comes with a one turn drawback but the chances of Divine Wrath being useful are high enough due to the lack of back-row removals. If you are facing a Colossal Fighter Deck Out situation, feel free to fix your hand by drawing into more cards with Dirty “C” before closing the curtains on the infamous giant (I wouldn’t recommend drawing half of your deck though that’s asking to die to Card Destruction.) 

Divine Wrath gets you out of tricky situations and allows you to dictate the flow considering the resources you have and the amount of plays you can go into. The possibility of Wrath being dead is quite low when put into consideration but that’s assuming your opponent doesn’t open the nuts and try to YOLO you whenever he or she gets the chance while you hold nothing. It serves as a big enough surprise slapped to the face and can easily be switched between games paying attention on who goes first. In terms of tech flexibility, the card has its merits. Whether you are facing Colossal-Deck-Out, Armory Arm OTK, or Jewel Flare Vanity Lock, Divine Wrath COULD save your ass. Talking about rewarding the right calls and making the right moves, Divine Wrath is all about that (how reliable it is depends on the player’s style.) Knowing how to manipulate it brings you closer to understanding which tactics to choose between depending on the amount of plays you can make or should make (defensive or offensive measure.) It is a simple card abiding to one simple iron rule, timing (the simplest things can create the biggest problems.) That’s the end of another wall of text. Thank you for reading and I hope this has been an informative read. Again, thank you!