YCS Toronto Deck Lists + Death Aspect

http://www.konami.com/yugioh/blog/?p=7125

In case you haven't seen, I've had Billy Brake's main deck for quite some time. I can let a heavy sigh go as the deck list I provided was correct...

What won?

"Synchro Summon"
Seriously, that deck name is stupid. But so is Tengu Plants, considering the Plants compromise 4 cards and the Tengus compromise 3 cards. The japanese deck is more rightly called Junk Doppel, based of the main focus of the deck. But since these decks have like nothing in common anymore it is a bit off to even compare them as the same deck.
Have a good idea what to actually call that deck?

This deck is basically a cookie-cutter, actually. All the cards (except Spore) are strong on their own, splashable, and new (meaning affected by the power creep) which is pretty much the definition of cookie-cutter.
Well, I am not one to criticize. I feel the game is at least borderline balanced with all the outs we are handed. Also, an aggressive meta is just SO much more fun than a control-based.

Looking at the first place deck list, what is a suprise?
The Spirit Reaper, 2 main-decked Rai-Oh, the Scapegoat and only 1 Call of the Haunted seems strange. Else the deck is perfectly as you would think. What is the reasoning behind those cards?
Card Trooper, Rai-Oh's worst enemy, didn't see much play. That makes him a strong call. Spirit Reaper is probably chosen over other Debris targets such as Snowman Eater due to the fact that Agent Angels (dubbed "Master Hyperion" by Konami) can't get rid of it except with Hyperion, and you want them to drop him early when you have both resources and life points left to deal with him.
Scapegoat is an overall good card, making Formula Synchron with ease, and I guess that in the end he just didn't have enough space for a second Call.

11 "Synchro Monsters"
2 "Synchro Monsters" without Reborn Tengu
11 Agent Angel
2 Tech Genus
2 Karakuri
1 Anti-meta
1 Monarch
1 X-Saber
1 Nordic

The all-important question: Is Agent Angels better than random Synchro?
Obviously Angels are a cheaper deck, but a lot of the top decks played 3 Tour Guide from the Underworld, including the Angels.
HOWEVER, a lot of decks like Agent Angel made top cut without it, including some of the playing BLS.
Neiber Lopez played BLS and 1 Chaos Sorcerer, but no Tour Guide, instead choosing to play Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer and Junk Synchron.

Even in the top 8 some players opted not to use it, which by extension means:
YOU DON'T HAVE TO PLAY IT TO WIN.

I have always been a strong believer of this, but 'other' people have written in their blogs that "Tour Guide decks will always beat non-Tour Guide decks", which wasn't, isn't, and never will be true. Unless they reverse the XYZ detatchment ruling again.

One of the interesting things is that many Agent players opted to play Effect Veiler. And not just one copy, but 3 full copies. And that they chose it over playing Herald of Orange Light.
I can't say I'm 100% liking this choice, but let's go over the basics.
Both are -1.
Both are Tuners.
Both have worthless stats.
Both are LIGHT.

Herald obviously has higher synergy with the deck due to being a Fairy, but seems to lose out to Veiler in terms of playability. There aren't a lot of cards Herald can stop that Veiler can't, and most likely, you don't want to. Negating a Sangan or Dandylion by discarding two cards is a bit steep to say so. However, beyond the initial turns your hand will be clogged with excess copies of Venus, Miracles and Earth which make great targets for the Herald.

T.G. wasn't just a suprise deck. In fact, it is consistent. That's why it wins.

The random appearances of Monarch, Karakuri, Nordics, X-Saber and Anti-Meta are much welcomed. I will go into more detail about that later.

Black Luster Solider was key pick for this tournament. Nearly every deck, except Karakuri, X-Saber and T.G., played it. A lot of the decks also played supporting copies of Chaos Sorcerer.

12 of the players chose to play Ally of Justice Decisive Armor.
The 4th place T.G. was the only player choosing not to play Heavy Storm.
Strangely enough, 2 decks decided not to play Monster Reborn. Upon closer inspection, it turned out Konami misspelled Monster Reborn as Mosnter Reborn in one case, but the Frog Monarch actually chose not to play it.
Thunder King Rai-Oh and Effect Veiler were all over decks.

The Nordic deck was splendid in my opinion, but I would probably have played an additional Effect Veiler if I could fit it. Setting Gleipnir and holding Veiler is a strong move, since your opponent, if holding S/T removal, will most probably think the way is free after you chain Gleipnir.
I'm not sure on how good the Nordic Engine actually is, but other than Dave Trepanier, Sorosh Saberian also played Nordics, and he is in my book a skilled enough player to make Nordics a recognized deck.
He also side decked Legendary Jujitsu Master, a smart move against those people thinking there is a Hamster set. He only side-decked one copy, as the Jujitsu Master actually isn't too good of a card right now, but good enough when your opponent pushes with a Librarian or something along those lines, expecting to hit a Hamster.


It is hard to build an unique X-Saber. Simon Phoenix's X-Saber is no exception, playing the standard monster line-up with the addition of 2 Effect Veiler, although only playing 2 Fulhelmknight and 2 Faultroll. It is possible he wanted to reduce dead draws, but I still think the 3rd Fulhelmknight is to important.
The rest of the deck was standard.

Logan Djuricin played Monarchs. That is a really old deck, which is officially considered "dead" with the banning of Fishborg Blaster. Yet he managed to top with it.
The monster line-up contains no hidden surprises, playing 3 Caius, Raiza, LaDD, Fader, Swap Frog, Treeborn Frog and Thestalos. Yes, Thestalos. After these Monarch Staples, he also played 2 Tragoedia, Gorz and 2 Effect Veiler. I believe a Monarch deck, due to its low player interaction, should play 3 Effect Veiler. He also skipped out on Ronintoadin, but that issue is not such a large issue considering he played 3 Soul Exchange.
Where the deck really shined was the Side Deck, a blast from the past of Monarch Toolbox. He sided 3 Zaborg, 3 Vanity's Fiend, and a BLS!
Another card worth considering in Monarch is Plaguespreader Zombie. A monarch, it and a Treeborn makes Trishula.

It seems that this format is a lot about preventing plays indirectly rather than playing hard counters. A Mask of Restrict stops Monarchs dead in their tracks but does nothing against Venus or Earth. A Light-Imprisoning Mirror stops renders Angels useless but has no effect on Monarchs. A Veiler makes both of them less good but is a minus in terms of card advantage.
Even though there are superior answers to both, a single 'soft counter' is better since it has more uses and is simply better against a diverse format. The same goes for a lot of others cards, such as Bottomless over Warning. This majorly applies to the OCG since the TCG has Tengu which needs to be Warninged.



Finally, Michael Bonaccini from Death Aspect has decided to retire from blogging. I am relatively new to the whole blogging thing, so I won't be lying when I say I haven't followed any blogs much.
He was a great player, and I respect that.
But I think he had a little bit high thoughts about himself. He once stated that he "at one point in the time was responsible for 15% of the meta". This is a ridiculous claim as far as I am concerned. Also, unlike other bloggers like [name redacted] who NEVER states their own worth but simply brings good and new thinking ideas, he instead spent his time talking about how good he was and why it was the formats fault that he didn't top.

From his farewell post:
He claims Konami has given him some things they actually have, including "horrible prize support",  "horrible card design", "corrupted rulings", and "rarity bumps". Konami are no angels and I won't ever defend them, but then he follows up by saying:
"So why the fuck does Konami deserve my time and effort?"
They don't. They don't deserve mine either, or your.
But that shouldn't stop you from playing the game. You are over 10 years old, GET OVER IT. Seriously. If you think the game sucks so much, why did you even bother to begin with? The game is healthy now. Anything can win and skilled play is awarded.


So goodbye, you were a good player, but you think too highly of yourself and are generally plain stupid. Sorry for the rude words.