Get your Game On with YGO 2

[Doppleganger]

In that Dragon Link loss video, Unknown Synchron's usage was 0.001% in Master Duel. As of today, it's risen to 0.013%.

Have people been watching me? I'm pretty sure I'm the only person crazy enough to use it.

[Doppleganger]

Lately I've been having some bad luck with Dimension Shifter. I also discovered a combo whereby if Chaos Ruler lacks a LIGHT monster to summon itself back after being summoned off Junk Speeder, I can dump the necessary LIGHT by Synchro 7 with a Bystial + Unknown Synchron, to make Shooting Riser. Shooting Riser dumps Thunder Dragonhawk who then lowers its level to 1, effectively replacing Unknown Synchron.

Sort-of often, I end up adding Dimension Shifter rather than a Bystial by this effect. I tried running Bystial Baldrake as an experiment and it sucked, but hearing the TCG loves to run x3 Magnamhut and x1 Druiswurm, I tried it out and...holy crackers, it raises the deck ceiling even more!

Shifter isn't even needed if Magnamhut is at 3, because Magnamhut isn't just an add, it's also a recycle. If I can't add Eschatos or Druiswurm I get to recycle Chaos Ruler, Druiswurm, Eschatos and/or Shooting Riser, netting a constant stream of advantage that is lacking just running the double Shifter.

As strong as shifter is against decks like Labryinth, Tears, Magnamut x3 is just as good. And I still retain the ability to play under Shifter without being put at a disadvantage.

All in all it makes the deck run way more smoothly and is less dependant on opening well. Here's hoping Magnamhut gets unlimited!

Right??

[Doppleganger]

Re:above, I'm trying out Radian in place of Shifter again.

Radian will be useful for Kashtira (which makes running Shifter bad/redundant) and also Purrely, when it does arrive.

It is lower impact but less of a midgame brick like shifter is, and it also combos with Anima which I pretty consistently open with.

[Doppleganger]

Somehow I beat Witchcrafters going 2nd...after they resolved Grass. I had to go full extension to do it, and I made some misplays I think. I almost quit right away when I saw Magician's Left Hand because I had evenly. I didn't recognize many of the spells so I didn't know what was the right cards to hit.

It's really starting to look like Ready Fusion is the single most powerful starter in my deck. Unlike Junk Speeder, it gives me full Synchro access while also allowing access to the Thunder Dragon fusions. I can push through a lot by virtue of looping the fusions.

[Doppleganger]

I lost a whole bunch of games so, realizing that necessity...I started running x3 Ready Fusion.

I dropped one copy of Allure to do it. From my testing with a "full power" build, x2 Allure would be the ideal anyway. I would be running x1 Instant Fusion, x1 Ready Fusion and x2 Gold Sarc.

[Doppleganger]

Wow, Relinquished Anima is so freaking good. Apparently, if it tries to equip something but is removed from the field in the process, the card it targets still goes to the Graveyard. So I can combo it with Forbidden Droplet to guarantee removing something.

[Doppleganger]

So I finally got to Diamond II. My promo match was against Generaiders.

Boss Stage is scary but the Generaider player kept giving me free draws, and I also happened to open 4 extenders so Harr's negate and Apoqliphort Towers-like effect didn't actually choke me during the two turns both effects resolved.

I also got a lucky mill off Tuning for Unknown Synchron, which let me equip Harr with Relinquished Anima to help break that initial field.

Thunder Dragon Titan came in incredibly clutch here, destroying one copy of Boss Stage and Jormungandr when it was summoned via Laevatein.
It was at this point - accidentally - that I discovered something fateful.

Remember how I would always complain about the interaction between Shenshen + Thunder Dragon Fusion? How I hated Shenshen banishing TDF so I couldn't recycle it ad infinitum?

Well, banishing TDF turned out great in this battle, as it triggered Chengying's effect whereas I had no other way to trigger it. I was planning on attacking into a face-down to make it happen, but summoning Titan off TDF basically sealed the win since if my opponent didn't quit, I would have banished the final Boss Stage.

Something I didn't mention, but I read a Tear player complaining about Bystial Baldrake, so I crafted two and used them in my Radian/Shifter slots. In an ideal deck this woud be three copies of Magnamhut, but Baldrake has been useful a few times with its banish effect, usually tributing off Chaos Ruler or Thunder Dragon Titan.

Short of Instant Fusion getting unbanned I don't think this deck can get any stronger. Well, there's Chiyomaru, but that's far in the future.

[Doppleganger]

So hey um, that new Zeus card, Typhon.

You can combo it with Dimension Slice to basically clear any board in the game.

[Doppleganger]

Best banlist ever!!

[Doppleganger]

I crafted and started running Verte Anaconda again. Verte has the same summon requirements as Chiyomaru, and I need something in that slot right now to deal with some of the openings I'm faced with.

Verte is decent. In theory, it should be great in Thunder Dragons, as it makes an opening of Ready Fusion + Thunder Dragonroar into:

-Colossus
-Titan
-Verte
-Thunder Dragondark in grave

In reality, losing 3000 LP while leaving the dinky Verte on the field is not a good idea. Verte also being Link 2 makes it easy prey for an enemy Underworld Goddess. It's definitely a situational card and I feel like I could easily lose games with it.

...

I am also considering dropping a copy of Ready Fusion for Upstart Goblin.

The correct ratio for TDS is: x2 Allure, x2 Gold Sarc, x1 IF, x1 RF

There simply aren't enough DARKs for Allure, and what DARKs I do have I don't want to banish generally. The two exceptions are Dark + Roar. But x3 Ready Fusion has actually gotten me into brick hands a few times now, way more than I'd like.

So Upstart becomes something of a middle ground between Allure and Ready Fusion. Desires is not desirable because I am seeking to draw board breakers or combo pieces, not hand traps.

I need to get the UR craft points to try it out, though!

[Doppleganger]

Adding Bystial Baldrake has MASSIVELY improved my matchup versus Tear, goodness. They can still go crazy if they open a bunch of handtraps (one player dropped Ash x2, Crossout, and Maxx on me in 2 consecutive turns) but I have been able to bully the best deck.

Almost at Diamond I (further than I've ever been) with 2 wins into Diamond II. I've dropped down to III after bad luck with Kashtira x2, but I'm close to the top.

[Doppleganger]

I had gotten to Diamond I and reached the promo match twice, but lost once due to being sacked by a go-second Kashtira deck, and the second time a connection error awarded me a 0 turn loss.

It's been downhill from there, or at least, since the weekend started. I'm back in Diamond III and things aren't good.

Here's what seems to win me games:

1. JUNK SPEEDER resolving

Every time I've gotten the board state into Speeder, I've won.

2. Archnemeses Eschatos

Eschatos murders Labrynth and Kashtira, one Labrynth player bounced it at least two times in one turn to prevent the Fiend lock. I'm cautious against using Eschatos against Tear and Traptrix because both have obnoxious ways to deal with it (they mix types so there is no sure way to kill 'em).

3. Evenly Matched

I wish I could open this card every game, along with Speeder and Eschatos it's the highest win rate for me. Unless it gets hit by Crossout it always demands an answer.

I'm struggling quite a bit to break boards otherwise, due to a lack of appropriate breakers.

If Spright sets say Crossout, Double Cross, and has:

-Melffy of the Forest
-Red
-Carrot
-Elf
-Masquerena

The only appropriate out is Evenly. No other breaker can deal with both the backrow and the monsters at the same time.

[Doppleganger]

I'm stupid, well.

Testing x3 Thunder Dragondarks over x2 Saronir. Might make the triple Allure worth it again.

[Doppleganger]

Masters V GET!!

I don't think it will be too tough to get to Masters IV from here on before the season ends. But this is a big monkey off my back.

[Doppleganger]

I've had a lot of trouble with OTK's turn 2, due to the Bystials. Druiswurm is the big offender as it's not just the best Bystial for board breaking, but also for defense. Killing Druiswurm lets it take down another attacker before it gets to attack.

This means that even with 4 monsters with >3000 Attack, it's incredibly hard to OTK in this environment. 3K turns into just measly 6K as the first attacker is sponged by Druiswurm, while the second is taken down by it.

I've struggled to find answers to this issue. Using Eschatos to Dragon lock isn't ideal because Bystials and Chaos Ruler are how I OTK typically. If one calls Dragon as well, it's easy take down Eschatos or another monster by summong Druiswurm before Eschatos' effect resolves.

I've tried Accesscode Talker and Borrelsword Dragon, and neither really deal with the issue. Accesscode is rendered impotent by a Battle Phase Bystial and while Borrelsword gets an extra attack in, the fact is Druiswurm still does its job.

However, surprisingly, there does appear to be a monster tailor made to solving this issue: Triple Burst Dragon.

Similar to Kaminari Attack, this card seems to have everything I'm asking for. It's a generic Link 3 that can be made with 2 materials, solving one of the major problems of Dharc being unable to Link into something more powerful with what it can poach. Moreover it doesn't require Effect Monsters, meaning I can use Fusion non-Effect Monsters to make it.

It has piercing, meaning it can do damage through a defense position Druiswurm, and it has an omni-negate for the Damage Step, meaning I can negate Druiswurm's effect if it does go through. It was also extremely cheap for me to get on Master Duel, being only Rare.

The only downside to Triple Burst Dragon is low Attack. Bystials clock in at 2400 and the Kashtiras are 2400, 2500, 2800. This card is unlikely to kill many things on its own in Attack position and, unlike Dharc, it doesn't proc a search when its destroyed. I am currently playing with it to see how it runs.

[Doppleganger]

So...it looks like at long last, I have found a home for Revolution Synchron.

Where it shines is not as a going-second card, but as one going first. And, in fact, it basically allows Thunder Dragon Synchron to be playable going first.

One of the big issues I have with Junk Synchron is that it is low value if its effect is not going off. In many duels against the Solo bots, this is the case. They set a bunch of stuff, I evenly them, and just Normal Summon Junk Synchron with no activation.

Revolution Synchron fixes this by not only not using the Normal Summon, it provides its own Level 1 Tuner. This means that Tuning + Gold Sarc = Shenshen + Colossus, minimum, if not better depending on what Chaos Ruler adds to hand.

Additionally, I am running x3 Thunder Dragondark again. X3 Dragondark, x2 Dragonroar nd x1 Dragonhawk is what Konami initially hit the Thunder Dragons to at the end of TOSS, and I think at the time I said that was the perfect ratio. But I moved away from it due to the possibility of bricking on Thunder Dragons.

You know what's worse than bricking on Thunder Dragons? Bricking on Bystials. I realized that against non-Chaos decks, the Bystials become bricks themselves. The easy way to fix that is Thunder Dragondark, since it provides a free material in the Graveyard for Bystials to summon themselves.

The high number of Thunder Dragons also makes Baldrake shine really well. If Baldrake banishes Thunder Draggonroar, at x3 Dragondark there's now enough material to summon a third or second Dragondark from the deck fo Baldrake to Tribute, which helps me search Thunder Dragon Fusion.

With the current builds, I'm able to really ramp up the handtraps. There's now 7 outs to Maxx "C", comparable to a "normal" build, and I no longer brick that consistently, not even going 1st.

Nutty!

[Doppleganger]

So apparently I have searchable Pendulum Scales.

Performapal Odd-Eyes Synchron and Chaos Emperor Dragon, Armageddon Dragon are both serchable and useble with my deck.

However, beyond dabbing on an opponent, there is very little practical reason to use these cards. I also can't summon Thunder Dragonroar or the Bystials because Performapal Odd-Eyes Synchron's scale is 6. The best I could do is summon the Chaos Ruler materials from hand.

[Doppleganger]

The new Salamangreat cards are obnoxious.

Weasel in particular inactivates Evenly, Lightning Storm, etc. while granting a free draw to the opponent.

I hate cards like these.

[Doppleganger]

I've dropped imperm.

I really like Forbidden Droplet. Its activation requirements mean it's a high skill card when it comes to sequencing effects, as it allows one to cancel out of activated effects in the hand.

An example would be activating Assault Synchron. Opponent chains Maxx "C". One now chains Droplet, pitching the Assault Synchron, then chains Bystial Magnamhut, targeting the Assault Synchron. Magnamhut now runs over whatever I negated with Droplet and adds another Bystial in EP.

in this sense, TDS now plays something like Vanquish Soul, while also packing extreme board breaking and handtraps.

Kaijus also synergize way better with Relinquished Anima but I'm torn between using Thunder King Thunderstrike or Radian. Radian works better with Allure, while Thunderstrike is searchable off Thunder Dragon Fusion.

Evenly, Droplet, Kaijus let me break basically everything.

[Doppleganger]

Considering dropping Gold Sarc for another copy of Allure of Darkness.

Gold Sarc is an excellent starter, and it allows TDS to play under Maxx "C"...but in most cases, I lose even when summoning Colossus in 2 summons. The whole point of going second:

1. Take full advantage of the generic board breaking cards, which are stronger than generic 1st turn support like Solemn Judgment
2. Many of my cards don't get full effects unless going second
3. 2 card combo decks are more consistent with more cards

What I found is that Ash on Roar or Dark = turn ending, usually. While Ash can't negate Gold Sarc, it does hit the much more valuable Roar or Dark, further along in the play.

Allure is Ashable...so if Ash hits Allure, I still have the Thunder Dragon effects free to combo with something else, like Instant Fusion/Ready Fusion.

Gold Sarc is simply not impactful enough for what it does, and I desperately need more draw power.

[Doppleganger]

Chaos Ruler banned. (((((

Merrli was hit in Master Duel, so there's hope Chaos Ruler escapes getting hit there. But man, this sucks. Worse that Halq getting banned, at least I could recover from that.

TDS basically can't function without Chaos Ruler. I could theoretically make use of Accel Stardust, but there aren't enough support cards around Accel Stardust to generate the same value as a single Chaos Ruler.

[Doppleganger]

As far as Master Duel is concerned, I have dropped Archnemeses Eschatos and am running...Nemeses Corridor.

I tried this out a while back, but the main reason is that while Eschatos is a great card, I need to make the deck better and Eschatos is too inconsistent to search. The three ways to get it:

1. Open it
2. Search with Magnamhut
3. Reveal with Chaos Ruler

In most cases, I am searching Bystial Baldrake with Magnamhut. Baldrake is an underrated and ridiculously powerful interruption tool, so long as it tributes a card that has a search or removal effect (Druiswurm or Thunder Dragondark). The cases where Magnamhut searches Eschatos are getting rarer.

As for revealing with Chaos Ruler, that's also inconsistent. I needed Eschatos as an emegency LIGHT monster in case I couldn't banish Thunder Dragonhawk or Thunder Dragon Titan, but now that I am running Bystial Lubellion to search Magnamhut, that requirement is met.

So why Corridor? Well, Corridor is both a 1-card Colossus and a trigger off Titan. Corridor lets me run the gamut of effects to land on Thunder Dragon Fusion, and I still get Colossus at the end without needing to commit to Hawk.

Corridor isn't easily searchable or can be added off Chaos Ruler, but I'm not looking for a highly searchable card. I'm looking for something with higher utility if I happen to open or draw into it, and Corridor has both qualities, alongside the others like giving unexpected Junk Speeder access.