Well, it is September, and the last month of the format, so these few weeks has always been about meddling and playing around with different Metalfoes build, all the while treasuring Majespecter Unicorn - Kirin's unlimited status for a while.
10th September
EP16, consisting of the TCG exclusives arrived in the OCG on 9th September, just one day before our weekly local rankings. Deciding to stick to my Metalfoes instead of going with the flow and trend of picking up these new archetypes, I went to the tournament fully prepared to combat the rising new threats of the metagame.
The format was a five-round swiss, with no top cuts, as it has always been for our locals. I counted about 18 particpants.
An interesting choice you would have noticed is Stardust Dragon in my Extra Deck. Seemingly fell off the face of the competitive scene, Stardust Dragon was my card of choice to combat against the new threat of Kozmos. It can be summoned via Ultimaya Tzolkin, and if it proves its position as a key player in my deck, I may even throw in Starlight Road. Stardust Dragon is also useful in mirror matches, allowing me to disrupt my opponent's pendulum scale effects.
Round 1 - Vs ABC XOO
I lost Game 1 after opening with a full hand of pendulum monsters. Lost the dice roll placed me going second for that game, and I found myself facing Anti-Spell Fragrance at my first standby phase. It was a tough struggle, and I was eventually done for when ABC-Dragon Buster landed.
I sealed my victory for Game 2 by continuously targeting his summoned Union monster with the effect of Kirin, disallowing Union Hangar from successfully resolving. My other monsters focused on offense, while Kirin handled board control.
It was a slower-paced third game as we both tried our best to cope with our sub-optimal opening hands. A misplay came from my opponent when he chained his Twin Twisters, discarding his only card in hand, to the activation of Bujintei Tsukuyomi. This disallowed him from getting any draws off Tsukiyomi, and he lost from the lack of resources.
Round 2 - Vs Blue-Eyes OO
The both games were pretty uninteresting as my opponent opened pretty badly. Starting Game 1 and passing with only a set card, I removed any surprises by destroying it with Mystical Space Typhoon, and proceeded to OTK.
An attempt to start plays with Dragon Shrine was made, but Ally of Justice Cycle Reader took care of the problem, ensuring The White Stone of Ancients would not resolve during the end phase. History seemingly repeated itself, as I went all in and dedicated my resources for a second OTK, achieved by multiple fusion summons.
Round 3 - Vs Kozmo XOO
I lost terribly to an onslaught of attacks by the various spaceships. The first game was over before I even realized. I opened poorly, unable to do my usual field set up and was thus vulnerable to direct attacks.
It was my opponent's turn to have a bad opening hand, opening with plenty of high-leveled spaceships but none of the pilots to call them out. I impatiently went ahead with my attacks, and within two turns, managed to bring the match to a third game. Having prepared for a Kozmo matchup, it would be a shame to lose a 2-0 game.
I was given the first turn, surprisingly, and managed to open with Deck Lockdown and Imperial Iron Wall. Perhaps he wanted to OTK again? Both of which were activated as soon as possible, and my opponent rolled his eye and it seemed like he was about to cry plenty of salty tears. I was sure to rub it in since I knew him personally (GeoTheBacon from my blog), and we both had a good laugh about that incident.
My two sided floodgate cards also proved their worthiness, and I felt confident that my deck has modified itself to meet the meta requirements.
Round 4 - Vs ABC OXO
I managed to take the first turn, and the rest was easy as I managed to assemble both Kirin and Fullmetalfoes Alkahest on the field. Both of them combined proved too much for my opponent to handle, despite him having four monsters on the field - A-Assault Core, Photon Thrasher, Gold Gadget, Silver Gadget.
I lost Game 2, once again dying to Anti-Spell Fragrance. Mystical Space Typhoon came too late. I drew into it, but had to wait for a turn to activate it. By then I had already lost the game.
Game 3 had me almost die to Anti-Spell Fragrance again, but I wasn't completely helpless this time round. Just drawn into it, I wasted no time and chained Fullmetalfoes Fusion to it. Fusing for Metalfoes Mythriel, I managed to clear the floodgate and carried on with my plays. Despite it being a 3-for-1 card exchange, I would had lost the game, being unable to do anything, if I had not chosen to do so. My victory in Game 3 was a humble reminder that my decision was a good call.
Round 5 - Vs Darklords XX
I lost Game 1 despite having control of the game flow, due to the tables being turned by Darklords' Temptation. My opponent did went first and begun drawing plenty of cards via Allure of Darkness and Pot of Desires, and even summoned out Archlord Kristya, which wasn't that much of a threat since I had Swords of Concealing Light to answer it and fusion summons to follow up on that play. But my fusion monsters ended up betraying me and damaging my lifepoints. Oh well...
Al-Lum'Raj would have been perfect in defeating all of my opponent's monsters, as all of them are very high-leveled. But I never drew into it. Instead, I opened with triple Concealing, and I conceded shortly after. There is a reason why I came to have the name Ken Sir, which if you did not know by now, is because of my luck. ;'(
Deck Review
My deck was fully prepared for Kozmos, and perhaps a little too over-prepared, such that I neglected Darklords, a popular option for players in my country, but this is the first time I was matched against this deck. At this point, I would like to point out that cards like Skill Drain and Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror do not do much against the archetype. Sure it might slow the deck down, but they secure victory mostly via lockdowns and they still have high ATK stats to boast, so it will just turn them into a Vanilla-beatdown style deck. There are better options, sure as Al-Lum'Raj. Mind Drain would be better than Skill Drain, as Darklords use their hand effects to build up their graveyard and setup their field.
After the entire episode, I decided to revamp my deck further. I will probably be bumping Al-Lum'Raj to 3, and dropping both Light and Dark Imprisoning Mirrors completely, as D/D/D is not so common here in Singapore. Deck Lockdown and Imperial Iron Wall will probably solidify themselves as key cards in my Side Deck, to combat Kozmos. Gameciel, the Sea Turtle Kaiju remains relevant as a versatile removal option for floodgate monsters and large threats. I would probably go with the System Down & Ally of Justice Cycle Reader approach for ABC, instead of Imperial Iron Wall, as Iron Wall is too easily removed by ABC decks' R4NK toolbox. (Castel, the Skyblaster Musketeer and Diamond Dire Wolf.)
That day, there was only one player piloting Kaijus (Greydle Kaiju build) and another playing Kozmos, despite the initial hyped popularity of Kozmos. However, seeing how EP16 was only released on a day before, perhaps players have yet to assemble a complete set of the Kozmo archetype and thus, the poor representation of Dorothy and friends.
17th September
The next week on 17th September, I decided to go ahead with the Guiding Ariadne version of Metalfoes, leveraging on the trap card that has just debuted in the OCG - Ultimate Providence. I also enjoyed Ariadne's searching ability, as I felt that the Solemn counter trap series were unparalleled in their negation capabilities, and bound to be a challenge for any deck to overcome.
Here are the following reasons for my card choices:
- Focusing on the counter traps to do their work in controlling the board, I decided to daringly forsake my hand traps, since I will most likely be going first. Maxx "C" hasn't been relevant for quite a while anyway, so I dropped it completely. Ghost Ogre and Snow Rabbit was moved to the side. It would remain to be an option to side against ABC to target Union Hangar.
- Blackwing - Gofu the Vague Shadow is an engine of its own, which would have hindered Ariadne's participation in the deck. It was one or the other, so Ariadne it was.
- Triple Goldriver was dropped to two and another Raremetalfoes Bismagia took its spot. This was because I felt Raremetalfoes' scale 8 worked well better than Goldriver's scale 1.
- I included more R4NK options since Ariadne was Level4, which would made xyz summoning Rank4 much easier.
- Dropped a copy of Metalfoes Counter to reduce the deck size count to 43, which I felt was the maximum acceptable number. Wasn't comfortable with going to 44 and above.
- Removed Deck Lockdown from my side, as I wanted to rely on my counter traps to prevent Kozmos from floating.
Round 1 - Resonator ABC OXO
It is Dsummon!!!
He went ahead first but couldn't established an impressive board. Stardust Charge Warrior was summoned, eliciting a search off B-Buster Drake which was sent to the grave via the synchro summon. I went ahead with my standard plays and Kirin is as annoying as ever. He is gonna go in a few weeks, so it was my mission to remind everyone of how annoying it was. xD
I lost the second game, having to face both ABC-Dragon Buster and Cyber Dragon Infinity. I tried my best to bait out the effects, but ultimately, I bite the dust. LOL. I left myself with only 1000LP after paying cost for my counter traps, and when my turned game, I drew into System Down. And as if being unable to pay its cost wasn't enough, Dsummon flipped Anti-Spell Fragrance. Yeah~~~~~~~ My luck....
My counter traps turned the tides of the game at the pivotal point. Using Archfiend Eccentrick to attempt to bait out Infinity's negation, I was instead met with a Solemn Strike from the backrow department. I suspected another one hiding among the remaining two set cards in the S/T zone, and it turned out my prediction was spot on. I went on ahead with a full-on assault with a pendulum summon that emptied my face-up Extra Deck pile, paying 4000LP of my own to negate the second Solemn Strike with my very own Solemn Judgement.
Round 2 - Frog HERO OXX
It is my blog mate - DAM SON. (The guy that blogs more than my secondary blog mate - GeoTheBacon)
He went ahead first and managed to establish a board filled with Masked HERO Dark Law and Traptrix Rafflesia. Lady luck was not on his side as Pot of Desires ended up banishing his WATER monsters, and thus, Bahamut Shark and Treatoad couldn't be summoned. Dark Law was taken out by Metalfoes Volflame and Fullmetalfoes Fusion was used to dodge Rafflesia's milled Floodgate Trap Hole. Anti-Spell would have been an activate threat if it were not for Ultimate Providence. I just happened to draw into a trap card when he activated Anti-Spell Fragrance, and thus I dumped that drawn spell as cost for Ultimate Providence's negation.
The second game was more ridiculous - It was the same as the first game, but this time with Bahamut and Treatoad joining the party. I didn't have the appropriate resources to get myself out of that situation, so it was a quick death for me as I conceded and went to Game 3. I couldn't play yugioh !!! :(
Nice.... and Game 3 was where all my counter traps decided to appear without Guiding Ariadne. I drew Solemn Strike, Solemn Warning and Solemn Judgment, along with Archfiend Eccentrick and Fullmetalfoes Fusion. Giving the 'I-dare-you-to-harpie-me', I challenged my opponent to activate Harpie's Feather Duster for a theoretical 4-for-1 card exchange. He ended up baiting my backrow with a series of special summons, and in the end, both of us were left with a handful of cards. It turned into a war of attrition, and I managed to draw into Majespecter Raccoon - Bunbuku. Fetching another copy of itself for a Scale 5 and 2 (Kirin was on my scale, my attempt to destroy it with Metalfoes Volflame was interupted by Cosmic Cyclone, banishing Volflame), I pendulum summmoned out from the Extra Deck the Archfiend Eccentrick from the first turn. I had previously used it for a backrow destruction. Archfiend was tributed to destroy the opposing Elemental HERO Shadow Mist, and Shadow Mist in turn fetched Elemental HERO Bubbleman. Both poked for a direct attack, and DAM SON drew and passed. I drew into Guiding Ariadne for the first time of the day, and lamented at how late it arrived; my life points were dwindling at 450LP. (All three Solemns were activated and a direct attack from Elemental HERO Stratos.) I summoned it for it to contribute to the direct attacks, and in Main Phase 2, not wanting to leave my vulnerable low-attack Archfiend Eccentrick on the field, I went for an xyz summon of The Phantom Knights of Break Sword, wanting to clear one of my scales as well. Unfortunately, it was met with a Solemn Judgement. Sensing that the end was near for both of us, and with Bubbleman's stats unable to combat Ariadne, DAM SON looked at his banished pile from Pot of Desires and calculated that he had only two monsters card remaining in his deck.
- DAM SON: Destiny Draw!
- Me: Two cards!!! Not possible.
- DAM SON: OMG I AM YUGI. (He shouts in excitement.)
- Summons Tin Goldfish and Bubbleman.
- Me: Nuuuuuuuuuu
So it was an xyz summon into Number 39: Utopia, and then into Number 39: Utopia the Lightning to add insult to injury, and bye bye 450LP. Topdecking a game-changing card, we both ended the round laughing at the ridiculous turning of tables which I quote "was so anime-like" and DAM SON repeating his signature "AYYY LMAO" catchphrase.
Round 3 - Vs ABC XOX
I found myself (once again) dying to Anti-Spell Fragrance. Once again, Mystical Space Typhoon came a tad too late. With that in mind, I might consider playing Trap Eater for the task of getting rid of Anti-Spell Fragrance instead. And that made for a short Game 1.
I managed to secure Game 2 with an impressive field set up of my own. My counter traps performed well and manage disrupt my opponent's plays. Ariadne finally stayed at where it belonged - the Pendulum scale to grant my cost-less counter traps. The value~
At Game 3, I was unable to combat the vast difference in terms of resources; Union Hangar provided him with too much advantage. He easily went into his R4NK toolbox, clearing my backrows and then proceed to damage with ABC-Dragon Buster.
Round 4 - Vs Kozmos OXO
It's GeoTheBacon!!! (He was the same Kozmo player I fought against the previous week.)
An early Card Destruction by my opponent discarded two copies of Kozmo Dark Destroyer from his hand. He then activated Reasoning, and I declared Level 8, fearing Dark Destroyer.
- Geo: Level 8!? You serious? Two Destroyers in grave and you call eight?
- Me: EIGHT!
- Geo: You sure!? Not three? Not five?
- Me: EIGHT! Hachi. 八. Lapan. Bat. (Me uttering eight in the different languages I know.)
Two mills later. His third destroyer gets sent to grave.
So we both had a good laugh for about five minutes, along with our neighboring players and spectators. I don't recall exactly how. But I managed to out-resource him and win.
I managed to put up a good fight, resolving Super Polymerization when my turn came, having opened with it in the second game for this round. I went for Metalfoes Crimsonite, but looking back, I should have summoned Starve Venom Fusion Dragon instead. But eventually, I lost the game as his monsters managed to float and that kept his field presence alive.
My trap lineup did me proud once again, preventing my opponent from doing anything together with Vanity's Emptiness in our third game. I answered every summon, effect activation and backrow destruction my opponent attempted with a negation, destroying his hopes and dreams at his every endeavor to win the final game. Ariadne was there to make sure I made my victory an overwhelming one - 8000:0. And I was sure to, once again, make him remember this moment. That's what friends are for, right? xD
Round 5 - Vs Darklords OXO
My opponent overextended with his constant payment of 1000LP, allowing me to sneak in a winning hit to take out his remaining lifepoints with only Mythriel and Kirin.
He managed to spectacularly flood his field and accomplish two xyz summons: Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Gustav Max and Number 38: Hope Harbinger Dragon Titanic Galaxy. I drew into Al-Lum'Raj and could only attack one of them. With Number 38's effect, Gustav Max would have been protected. I was at 800LP, and struggling aimlessly felt like a lost cause, so we went into the third game after I declared my surrender.
We entered the time-call procedure and it went into a 4 turn countdown. I was able to attack directly with Metalfoes Goldriver, and Vanity's Emptiness kept him at bay. When mine expired, he was forced to activate his to prevent me from flooding the field, with Metalfoes Mythriel's effect (upon hitting the grave) and Metalfoes Counter. The lifepoints difference of 1900 was sufficient to win me the duel.
Now that the day is over, time for me to upgrade my trap lineup to include more interesting options like Vanity's Call.
Conclusion
The initial few weeks of the month was spent meddling with the different builds of Metalfoes, in anticpation of the banlist. I totally expected Gofu to be hit, but Level Eater took the rap instead. Kirin being limited was no surprise, and I was fully prepared with compensate the now-missing 2-5 slots in my deck for the next format. Kozmoll Dark Lady would be a more optimal solution than Mist Valley Apex Avian, be able to interact with Gofu for the summon of Ultimaya Tzolkin. The Ariadne and counter trap lineup could compensate for the deck's capacity for board control. With Kirin limited, it is less searchable and thus, more inaccessible. So players can't rely solely on it.
Gofu would probably be a more popular engine for players to depend on. I originally written it off as a lost cause, since it seems to invite Konami to scrutinize it with its immediate +2 and its participation in the rogue Synchro DARK deck. Gofu's possible ban/limitation was also another reason I went to test out the Ariadne build, the other being my personal liking for counter traps. But guess my plans will have to change now. Its token can be used for the summon of Alkahest, which is again a card capable of capturing the game flow.
Currently working on Part 7 of the series, which will focus on the side deck. I may also do a feature on the road that Metalfoes will now be heading towards, with Kirin's limitaiton, by evaluating the effectiveness of each substitute option. So I will likely put aside writing tourney reports for the next two weeks or so. Thanks for reading. This is Ken Sir, signing off.
