Articles by Just Griffin

Yata-Garasu. The name itself is iconic, and for good reason. This little bird, with its mere 200 ATK, is the reason the Forbidden List exists. Back in 2004, Konami banned Yata-Garasu for its role in the infamous Chaos-Yata Lock: after clearing the field and hands with Chaos Emperor Dragon – Envoy of the End, and searching Yata with a previously summoned/set Sangan or Witch of the Black Forest, the little bird’s attacks would repeatedly peck an opponent to death. This was death by a thousand cuts, with no ability to ever draw into a reprieve. Yata has never been legal for a single format since. Yet despite all this, Yata-Garasu would see no serious competitive play if unbanned today.

Recently, Konami announced the Normal Spell Three Tactical Talents for Rise of the Duelist. This Spell card set off immediate shockwaves in the community upon its announcement. Yugioh players speculated that it would be an expensive, sought-after Secret Rare and a staple card in the metagame. People have already begun calling it “the best card of 2020”.

Ah, Madolche – Yugioh’s sweetest archetype. From its release in 2012 to the modern-day, these colorful cakes have captured the hearts of many a Yugioh player. And they have stolen several event tops as well! Seemingly fated to fade into obscurity, a plethora of support cards throughout the years has kept the deck afloat. With new support looming in Eternity Code, Madolche looks set for the foreseeable future. Such an intriguing deck of Yugioh’s history deserves to have its story told.

HAT Format was an extremely diverse period of Yugioh lasting from May to August 2014. This format featured dozens of distinct rogue strategies and double-digit meta decks. In my previous article, I looked at Early HAT from Primal Origin to Structure Deck: Realm of Light. This article will focus on the High HAT Format period following the release of Realm of Light and encompassing the 2014 World Championship Qualifiers that ended with the release of Super Starter: Space-Time Showdown and the advent of Master Rule 3.

“He opened the nuts.” “My hand was unplayable.” “I got sacked.”
We’ve all heard these excuses before. Chances are, after a bad beat you’ve dropped one of them yourself in disgust. It’s only natural to look for excuses after a loss – and sometimes a game really was unwinnable.

It’s banlist discussion season (because when is it ever not), and one of the items on a lot of player’s agendas is Sky Striker. There’s been a lot of debate about whether or not Sky Striker deserves to be hit anymore. Quite a few people do not think so. They believe that Striker is not a problematic deck, and people want it out of the meta just due to fatigue.

The idea of “playstyles” in Yugioh is that each individual duelist has a certain affinity for how they play the game. Some duelists like to play aggressively, pump out big monsters, and quickly go for game. Others like to sit back, set lots of backrow, and slowly grind their opponents down. These affinities affect what decks duelists are attracted to and enjoy, how they play out their turns, and generally how they view, experience, and interpret the game. Not all players believe in the existence or validity of playstyles, however.

Altergeist was predicted to be a top deck in the metagame for this new format, and YCS Chicago was supposed to be the deck’s proving ground. Things… didn’t quite work out that way.