It's time to D-D-D-D-DDDDUEL

[Princess Ana]

In good news I pulled a Hot Red Dragon Archfiend today. It's going in the deck~

[Princess Ana]

[AMORPHAGE INTENSIFIES]

Amorphactor Psycho, the Void Dracoverlord
Level 8 EARTH Dragon-Type Ritual Effect Monster
ATK 2950
DEF 2500
You can Ritual Summon this card with “Amorphous P” [can’t read Furigana at this time].
(1) If this card is Ritual Summoned: your opponent skips their next Main Phase 1.
(2) The effects of all face-up Fusion, Synchro and Xyz Monsters are negated.
(3) If this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard: you can add 1 “Dracoruler” monster from your Deck to your hand, except “Amorphactor Psycho, the False Dracoverlord”.

[Princess Ana]

Hey remember when #Twin Twister?

SHVI-JP025
Amorphage Lux
PS5 LV2 1350/0
Pendulum Effect:
During each of your Standby Phases, destroy this card unless you Tribute 1 monster.
(1) While you control an “Amorphage” monster, neither player can activate Spell Effects, except “Amorphage” Spell Effects.
Monster Effect:
(1) If this card was Pendulum Summoned or flipped face-up, neither player can Special Summon monsters from the Extra Deck, except “Amorphage” monsters.

Not anymore! They also have one for Monster and Trap effects.

Amorphage Lysis
Trap Continuous
You can only use the (2) effect of “Amorphage Lysis” once per turn.
(1) All monsters except “Amorphage” monsters lose 100 ATK and DEF for each “Amorphage” card on the field.
(2) If a card(s) in your Pendulum Zone(s) is destroyed: You can place 1 “Amorphage” Pendulum Monster from your Deck in your Pendulum Zone.

Amorphous Persona
Field Spell Card
(1) “Amorphage” monstesr on the field gain 300 ATK and DEF.
(2) As long as this card remains face-up in the Field Zone, each time “Amorphage” monsters you control are tributed you can draw a card. This effect can be applied up to twice per turn.
(3) You can banish this card from your Graveyard; tribute Pendulum Monsters in your hand or on your field whose Levels equal 8, then Ritual Summon “Amorphactor Psycho, the Vanitas Dracoverlord”.

Amorphage Nothros
Level 6 EARTH Dragon-Type Pendulum Effect Monster
ATK 2250
DEF 0
Scale: 3
Pendulum Effect:
The controller of this card must tribute 1 monster they control during each of their Standby Phases (this is not optional). Otherwise, this card is destroyed.
(1) If you control an “Amorphage” monster, neither player can add cards from the Deck to the hand, except by drawing them.
Monster Effect:
(1) Neither player can Special Summon monsters from the Extra Deck, except “Amorphage” monsters.

Amorphage is reaching critical intensity. Don't forget, there will be support for them next set too. Just like Igknights, Majespecters, and Dinomists.

[Doppleganger]

Twin Twister(s) can still be chained to the activation of that Pendulum. It's pretty terrible, though. But I'm fairly fine with the opponent having no access to Spell Cards, too.

/waits patient for Burgesstoma to be made legal

[Princess Ana]

Really the best thing is that you can't create a Spell / Monster lock (well you can but why). It still allows you to use the effect of Amorphage Infection though.

Just sucks there isn't a lot of fodder in this deck right now.

[Princess Ana]

HI I HAVE COME TO TELL YOU FUCK THE SPELL AND MONSTER EFFECT STOPPER BEING LEVEL 2 THIS IS RIDICULOUS.

I've actually dropped them (along with the Mistake clone) because its gotten so bad. 2 Scales is so risky if you don't have the tribute fodder.

[Doppleganger]

You're mad they're not Level 4? But Level 4 is broken!

[Princess Ana]

The scales in the deck are 3 and 5. Take a guess on why I'm angry they are level 2. :p

Also the doesn't XYZ, at all, so who cares what level they are, outside of being able to summon them.

[Princess Ana]

So I have two Amorphage builds in the work. The first is a Ritual variant that uses the Level 4s and Irritum exclusively while using Amorphactor and Odd-Eyes Gravity Dragon as lynchpin pieces. The second is a Magician build which tries to use the entire Amorphage deck to its full potential. But, that's nowhere near as fleshed out as it should be, and there is also the issue of...

fucking kozmos
FUCKING STARGATE WITCH OF ID BULLSHIT

[Doppleganger]

The Upstart Goblin debate has arisen again, so I think I should deploy my take on it.

...

Upstart takes out non-critical tech cards to improve the consistency of your win condition. This means that Upstart, by intent, isn't something you use to draw into disruption or counters. It's something you use to aggressively promote your own deck strategy. So if you luck out and open well with your win condition, Upstarts end up useless, since when you want tech cards, you just end up drawing redundancy for the win condition.

So, I would argue that Upstart is equally good in 40+ card decks than it is in 40 card decks. The key way of looking at it is that Upstart replaces tech cards - stuff like Vanity and Solemn Warning aren't tech cards anymore, they're essential to survive in the meta. Swapping out those cards for Upstarts is almost never a good idea, and it would take an insanely broken power play to justify no defense at all.

So if your deck runs 43 cards naturally, because 40 are deck critical and you have 3 tech cards, you either don't run Upstart, or you can run 43 cards of which 3 are Upstarts.

At worst, these decks are functionally equal by set probabilities, but the 43 card deck with upstarts might even be better, if the deck does any of the following:

-one for one search
-selective mill
-draw a lot of cards

Suffice to say, if you open with two ROTA, Foolish, One for One, and one Upstart, playing the Upstart at the end of the play is going to massively increase the chances of drawing a tech card. Observe:

1. ROTA Doppelwarrior/Junk Synchron (43-6-2 = 35 cards in deck)
2. One for One Jet Synchron, discarding Doppelwarrior (34 cards in deck)
3. Foolish Squamata, send Beast, draw one card (34 - 1 - 1 -1 = 31 cards in deck)

You have a 2/29 chance of drawing a trap (if you didn't draw one for Beast), because two of the cards left in the deck are other Upstart Goblins. Versus, if you didn't put the Upstarts in, and had a 40 card deck with a non-critical trap card (say, ASF), if I stopped the turn at Beast, the probability of drawing a trap was 2/31.

That's only 6.9% versus 6.45%...which isn't a lot to split hairs over, but you have to revisit what I said about searching/drawing. If you can continually do this, and drop the Upstarts late after most of those cards are gone from the deck and you STILL haven't drawn the traps, your chance of getting them is very high late in the turn.

Like in this example: 5 cards left in deck, two are critical traps, 3 are upstarts. Versus 5 cards left in deck where two are critical traps, and 3 are non-critical traps.

Your chance of drawing a critical trap in the first example is 100% (2/2). In the other case, it's 2/5. Now the difference is sharp enough to see where Upstart shines.

My deck's running 42 cards now because I deem Maxx "C" to be more or less deck critical. So far, it's worked out. Time will tell how effective this will be, as it always does.

[Princess Ana]

People who don't play Upstart after they've searched everything really need to hit upside the head.

[Doppleganger]

Well, yeah. But the point is that every deck should run 3 Upstart Goblin, even if it takes them over 40 cards, so long as you do heavy searching or drawing. Even if you don't do heavy searching or drawing, any searching or drawing at all makes running 3 upstarts in a bigger deck slightly better, or no worse off.

There's literally no downside. So the idea that you need 40 cards if you're going to run triple Upstart is completely wrong.

[Princess Ana]

The only time I didn't run Upstart was in decks that needed to OTK, like Chaos Shaddolls, which had a really difficult time of going over 9000 damage and hence made Upstart a liability in those cases, or in stun decks where I could use Pot of Duality instead (although, to be quite honest, 3 Upstart 2 Pot is really rather incredible).

If Upstart Goblin was "Pay 1000 LP; Draw 1 card", every deck would use it without question. The only reason decks don't run Chicken Race is because its a Field Spell and both players can use it.

[Doppleganger]

Yeah, but did you run Upstart in those decks with 40 cards? That's the crux of the issue. Most of what I said isn't particularly controversial, except that the common understanding is Upstart in a 40+ deck defeats the point of running it at all.

I wouldn't run Chicken Race just because you can't OTK with it on the field, and it's hard to remove if you don't run your own native Field Spell. And to accommodate 3 Chicken Race and 3 Upstarts, I'd be taking out a lot of deck critical cards. In reality, giving the opponent an extra draw isn't that big a deal if you've already accrued a huge advantage.

I've noticed Dark Bribe is a lot more powerful now than it was in the old days, for similar reasons. The same goes for the Raidraptor Counter Trap that only hits Spells/Traps: Raidraptors negate Hand Destruction or Tuning, and I'm stuck.

[Princess Ana]

All Upstart really does is make the deck three cards less. It'll turn a 43 card deck into a 40 card deck, or a 60 card deck into a 57 card deck. I mean the benefit is most noticeable in a 40 card deck, obviously, but Upstart isn't much worse even in a 60 card deck. A 7.5% decrease in size compared to a 5%. It's not that big of a difference, so why is this so controversial. lmao

[Doppleganger]

It's more correct to say "All Upstart really does it make the deck at least three cards less". The probabilities impacted by Upstart are most noticeable the thinner the deck is, but if you didn't run Upstart at all, you wouldn't open yourself to any of that benefit.

Hence, it's a card that should be a staple at 3 in almost anything and any deck size, except as you say, decks that want to OTK but can't kill an opponent with 9000-11000 LP.

[Princess Ana]

Could have pre-ordered PSY-Framelord Omega at $15 each.

It is now ~$55-60 each. Why was I so dumb

[Princess Ana]

You don't know how much it annoys me that the OCG has Super Rejuvenation at 1. I'd love that for this deck. :<

Also, Dopple, what is your opinion on this card? I saw an OCG list of Amorphage running it and I was curious.

Fuyu Sakura (Drifting Spirit of Winter Blossoms)
Level 3 DARK Zombie-Type Tuner Effect Monster
ATK 0
DEF 1800
The effect of “Fuyu Sakura” can only be used once per turn.
(1) During either player’s turn, if your opponent controls more monsters than you do: you can discard this card; reveal 1 card from your Extra Deck, then, check your opponent’s Extra Deck, and if there is a card(s) with the same name, banish all cards with that name in the opponent’s Extra Deck.

It's obviously super match-up reliant, but it could be really good. I know a certain D/D duelist who would hate me using this card. :3

[Doppleganger]

It's a hand trap version of Extra Gate, and like that card it's a powerful side against predictable Extra Deck reliant decks. I would imagine it's near devastating against Burning Abyss: banish all their Dantes and they can't summon Beatrice either.

I don't have a lot of use for it, though. My extra space is too tight, I don't run Noden (who is the main deck reason to run this) and I don't have the main deck space for it.

Level 3 Tuner is also one of the worst for me, which is the main reason I don't run Ghost Ogre. Too high a level for Junk Synchron, Tuner makes it incompatible with Tatsunoko. The attribute is nicer, but zombie is pretty useless for my purposes.

[Princess Ana]

So I saw in the most recent lists for the OCG that some brave soul was running Amorphages. I've been trying out his list, but I don't think its superior to anything I've come up with. On the other hand, I just went 2-1 against Full Power Prophecy despite going second twice, so I expect he might have done something right. The full list is below:

Spoiler: show

MONSTER CARDS (21):
1 Amorphactor Psycho, the Vain Dracoverlord
1 Vector Pendulum, the Dracoverlord
2 Amorphage Gastr
3 morphage Lux
3 Amorphage Olga
2 Amorphage Cavum
2 Amorphage Hyper
2 Amorphage Plest
1 Magical Abductor
2 Amorphage Nortes
2 Amorphage Irritum
SPELL CARDS (10):
1 Ties of the Brethren
1 Harpie’s Feather Duster
1 Dark Hole
1 Super Rejuvenation
3 Amorphage Infection
3 Amorphous Persona

TRAP CARDS (9):
1 Compulsory Evacuation Device
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Blazing Mirror Force
1 Dimensional Prison
1 Storming Mirror Force
1 Mirror Force
2 Amorphage Lysis
1 Solemn Judgment

EXTRA DECK (15):
1 D/D/D Temujin the Raging Inferno King
1 D/D/D Oracle King d’Arc
1 Dinoster Powerful, the Strong Dracoslayer
1 Ignister Prominence, the Blasting Dracoslayer
1 Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss
1 The Phantom Knights of Break Sword
1 Outer God Nyarla
1 Majester Paladin, the Ascending Dracoslayer
1 Castel, the Skyblaster Musketeer
1 Number 39: Utopia
1 Traptrix Rafflesia
1 Lavalval Chain
1 Evilswarm Exciton Knight
1 Shining No. 39: Utopia the Lightning
1 Beatrice, the Eternal Lady

SIDE-DECK (15):
3 Maxx “C”
3 Lindbloom
3 Floating Ghost & Cherry Blossom
3 Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit
3 Wavering Eyes

It feels...unfinished. I personally would have altered the ratios a tad bit with another Hyper and a Plest, but the OCG is a different format so I can understand if he didn't want to do that. 3 Lux and 3 Olga make sense; they counter Dracoslayer Performapals and Monarchs respectively and form a synergistic 3-5 pair. I'm not sure if he expected to beat Burning Abyss game 1 or not: 2 Irritum, 2 Nortes, and 2 Plest don't say much to me, not to mention the dearth of S/T removal. Anyways:

-Ties of the Brethren. I completely forgot about this card (likely because its largely forgettable) but I will admit its perfect in this deck.
-Super Rejuvenation - LUCKY FUCKERS
-I don't like Amorphage Lysis. On one hand, its an Amorphage card and helps with the beatstickiness of the archetype. On the other...its almost odd to say it, but its other effect is largely useless.
-I like the idea of hand traps. You can draw into them a lot easier in this deck that you might expect. Especially since you can draw 4 and search 1 in a turn (sometimes).
-LINDBLOOM??????????????? HALF OF YOUR MONSTERS HAVE 0 DEF?????????
-Obligatory Wavering Eyes for the poor

I'm still not sold on a build that doesn't use Irritum + Level 4s. But if there exists ways not to brick with it, I'm sold.

[Princess Ana]

Arkbrave Dragon
Light Dragon / Effect
LV7 2400/2000
(1) If this card is Special Summoned from the Graveyard: You can banish as many face-up Spell/Trap Cards your opponent controls as possible, and if you do, this card gains 200 ATK and DEF for each banished.
(2) During the Standby Phase of the next turn after this card was sent to the Graveyard, and if this card stays in the Graveyard: You can target 1 Level 7 or 8 Dragon-Type monster in your Graveyard, except “Arkbrave Dragon”; Special summon it.

...but we've only gotten like one card because of the timing. But damn, wtf is this shit.

[Doppleganger]

The second effect looks way more potent than the first. Broken Dragon Ruler support.

[Princess Ana]

Too bad Dragon Rulers are banned everywhere :v

It is, however, broken support for Dark Matter Dragon which is fun for a lot of decks. All this "Felgrand" support is weird.

[Princess Ana]

So with everyone going wrong with my laptop for no reason, I bought a couple of packs of DOCS with the hopes that I would have some good luck.

...and I did! Pulled a Majester Paladin, the Ascending Dracoslayer, and I intend on turning that into a 10 in my pocket.

[Princess Ana]

How has the dueling been, Dopple? Seen any Blue-Eyes, Amorphage, or "Level 7-8 Dragon Deck" yet?