Interesting Deck - Moja Jojo

At Shonen Jump Columbus, John Thomas played a Moja-Beast deck featuring the Raging Battle TCG Exclusives Moja, King of the Beasts, and Beast Striker. It used combo cards such as Creature Swap, Kinka-Byo, and Rescue Cat to efficiently maintain field presence. Here's the build he ran:

3x Moja
3x King of the Beasts
3x Beast Striker
3x X-Saber Airbellum
2x Giant Rat
2x Kinka-byo
1x Gorz, the Emissary of Darkness
1x Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter
1x Rescue Cat
1x Sangan
1x Morphing Jar
1x Card Trooper

3x Creature Swap
2x Pot of Avarice
2x Foolish Burial
1x Heavy Storm
1x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Brain Control
1x Mind Control
1x Book of Moon
1x Lightning Vortex

2x Bottomless Trap Hole
1x Solemn Judgment
1x Trap Dustshoot
1x Call of the Haunted
1x Mirror Force
1x Torrential Tribute

This is definitely an original deck, and it reminds me a lot of Synchro Cat, except instead of spamming Synchros, Moja Jojo spams King of the Beasts. I think that in the hands of a good player, this deck could cause some serious damage. I have a couple preference changes I'm going to make, but Thomas' build is near perfect in my opinion.

-1 King of the Beasts

This is a great card, and it's the core of the deck, but there is no need for three with the ease this deck can search it out.

-1 Kinka-Byo

While an important strategy card, Kinka-Byo can be dead early game, and dead if you draw more than one. With the speed the deck should be thinning, two just isn't needed.

-1 Card Trooper

Another great card, but I can think of a better one that fits the theme a little more.

-1 Book of Moon

Eh, it's kinda random at one, and there's no reason to run two or three of these, so it gets cut for room.

-1 Trap Dustshoot

Preference call, but I'd rather be at 40 cards than have this.

+1 Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter

Accomplishes the same thing as Card Trooper, but better.

+2 Yellow Baboon, Archer of the Forest

Since an errata ruined his older brother, this SOVR Ultra can take its place and allow for another solid beater when your beasts get killed.

That slims the deck down to 40 cards, which I find important, and allows me to play with Yellow Baboon, who I've been dieing to use.

Got the urge to write something again

It's been awhile since I wrote anything here, havn't been playing a lot of Yugioh lately. SJC Columbus was the last time I dueled seriously.

The SJC was cool, there was a lot of people there. I did pretty bad in the tourney(2-3 drop) and win-a-mat(lost first round), but it was a lot of fun. I got to meet a bunch of cool people, made some awesome trades(my ULT RDA, his Catastor being the best). Bought a bunch of Hidden Arsenal, pulled Brionac/Mist Worm, so that made me happy. Sold off a ton of useless holos to the vendors, so I actually broke even on the day, and I gained over $100 in new cards. Only downside was $7 subway(we got pizza instead, but I was looking forward to subway).

Anyways, I also managed to pick up an Earthbound Immortal Uru for my Spider deck, and I pulled a good majority of the cards I needed to make Flamvells, so I was happy there, too.

After its failure at a big tourney, I disassembled Chaos Nor, and rebuilt it as regular Agro Chaos. I don't know if I'm going to keep it much longer, it isn't very much fun to play anymore. I almost always set it aside to play with Spiders.

I'm looking forward to Christmas in a couple weeks, hoping to get a Hidden Arsenal box(more Catastors, GO) and a SOVR SE box(don't even know what I want out of here, besides Gateway and Uru).

I'm also looking forward to some of the future releases we'll be getting. I've been waiting for Absolute Zero since I first read its effect, so that's gonna be cool to get finally. I might play around with the playable Obelisk if I get bored, its definitely an interesting card. Absolute Powerforce has some cool cards, I like the ritual and the Spider stuff. Might even pick up a Savior Demon Dragon.

The thing that excites me the most, though, is Japan's new Duel Terminal, Pulse of Trishula(yeah, I know we're not getting it for a long time, but still). Neoflamvells are going to be awesome, and Trishula isn't bad either.

Well, that's all for now. Feels good to be writing again.

Stardust Overdrive Sneak Preview

Sneak today was cool, got a couple Gateways, which I wanted(need one more though), finished my Chaos deck, and got some cool stuff to sell.

Built three new decks today. 1st is Six Samurai, which gained a great toolbox card in Gateway of the Six. 2nd deck was Spiders, a DARK/EARTH Insect theme in SOVR that rely on your opponent's monsters being in defense position. And the third deck is Volcanics, one of my favorite decks that I never got around to building in real life. They join my Chaos Nor, and I now have 4 decks(well, almost, Six Sams are missing a few cards, and I havn't got all the Volcanic stuff I need yet). Hoping to playtest all of them this week.

And yes, Spiders are inconsistant, but the name Spyder Spider, and the fact that I pulled the entire deck at the sneak made me want to build them. Dunno if I'll keep them, but they'll be a fun little project for awhile.

Chris Bowling wins Shonen Jump Austin with Lightsworn!

3 x Necro Gardna
3 x Honest
3 x Wulf, Lightsworn Beast
2 x Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner
2 x Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior
2 x Celestia, Lightsworn Angel
1 x Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid
1 x Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter
1 x Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress
2 x Shiny Black “C”
1 x Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
1 x Plaguespreader Zombie
2 x Chaos Sorcerer
2 x Judgment Dragon

3 x Charge of the Light Brigade
3 x Solar Rechage
2 x Gold Sarcophagus
1 x Heavy Storm
1 x Pot of Avarice
1 x Burial From a Different Dimension

1 x Torrential Tribute
2 x Bottomless Trap Hole
2 x Beckoning Light

2 x D. D. Crow
1 x Card Trooper
1 x Legendary Jujitsu Master
1 x Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
1 x Twister
2 x Lightning Vortex
1 x Trap Dustshoot
1 x Dust Tornado
2 x Royal Oppression
1 x Dimensional Prison
1 x Royal Decree
1 x Mystical Space Typhoon

1 x Armory Arm
1 x Magical Android
1 x Gaia Knight, The Force of Earth
1 x Goyo Guardian
1 x Arcanite Magician
1 x Tempest Magician
1 x X-Saber Urbellum
1 x Ancient Fairy Dragon
1 x Black Rose Dragon
1 x Blackwing Armor Master
1 x Thought Ruler Archfiend
1 x Stardust Dragon
1 x Red Dragon Archfiend
1 x Avenging Knight Parshath
1 x Colossal Fighter

Well, it's about time they won something. Bowling's deck is only a few darks away from being considered Twilight, but we'll call it Lightsworn. Anyways, this deck is running some pretty odd choices compared to the standard American Lightsworn build, and it's those cards that allowed Chris to pilot them to the top. Congratulations, Chris!

Top 16 at SJC Austin

8 Lightsworn

3 Blackwing

3 D-Zombies

2 Chaos

I'm rooting for Ismael Esqueda or Ryan Spicer(both using Chaos).

So many choices, so little time

As many of you may know, Shonen Jump Columbus is November 14th, now less than a month away. I have every intention of attending, but I still don't know what deck to run. For once I actually have some money to spend on a deck, but sadly can't afford Vayu Turbo, Lightsworn, or anything using a D-Hero engine(or Doomcalibur Knights for Chaos Stun). This still leaves me with a lot of good choices.

Necro Chaos has proven to be a very strong deck that has a good matchup against most of the top decks, however, it isn't very consistent, which could be a big problem for a nine or ten round tournament.

Gladiator Beasts, while counted out by some, have consisted of 23%(as of the time of writing this) regionals top eight. They're a very solid deck, and I already have most of the deck lying around somewhere. Only problem is being slower than the other top decks of the format, which can't be solved due to the design of the theme.

Another deck I'm considering, but not as much as the previous two, is Herald of Chaos(see previous post). It has a good Lightsworn matchup if it opens with either Herald and a fairy, and is very good at controlling the game. On the flip side of things, it can draw very poorly, and runs out of steam very quickly against Blackwing decks.

The final deck that I may run is Supervis Plants. The Warrior's Strike Structure Deck will be released on October 27th, more than two weeks before the Jump. For those who don't know the deck, it basically spams Gigaplants very quickly and attacks for a lot of damage early, using Supervis, Lonefire Blossom, and Blazewing Butterfly. Hidden Armory(Arms Hole) searches Supervis for added speed and consistency. Since Hidden Armory is being used anyways, I can also abuse equips such as United We Stand for added beatdown.

So far, Gladiators or Supervis Plants seem to be the most reliable deck, but I have yet to decide. Hopefully Shonen Jump Austin(this weekend) will help me pick one.

Introduction and a deck

Hola all, welcome to my blog. I'm Kevin Olbrysh/Void8/probably a couple other usernames I can't think of. I've been playing Yugioh for awhile now, but just got into the game competitively during the Tele-Dad format(and this format(Sept.2009) will be the first time I actually complete a competitive deck).

I'm the leader of a small team, known as Team Void, whose members are few, and their accomplishments are even less. Anyways, the team consists of me(Kevin Olbrysh), Nathan Griest(the team innovator), Michael Martin(AKA lucky), and Tony Dovell(a good friend of mine that isn't very good yet, but pulls extremely well). Anyways, as I said, we haven't really accomplished anything, but I like to think I know my Yugioh theory rather well, I just don't have the money for cards to capitalize on it. We're based in Ohio, so we'll be at the Shonen Jump in November(well, at least two of us will, dunno about Michael or Tony yet).

Anyways, on with the decklist. Someone has probably built something like this before, but I've never seen it. This is what I've been working on the past week(extra deck is post-Hidden Arsenal, but that'll be out soon enough).

Herald of Chaos

1x Asura Priest

3x Bountiful Artemis

2x Chaos Sorcerer

2x Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive

2x Harvest, Angel of Wisdom

2x Herald of Green Light

3x Herald of Orange Light

3x Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer

1x Majestic Mech - Ohka

2x Necro Gardna

2x Allure of Darkness

2x Foolish Burial

2x Beckoning Light

2x Bottomless Trap Hole

3x Dark Bribe

2x Divine Wrath

3x Magic Drain

2x Royal Oppression

1x Solemn Judgment

Extra Deck

1x Ally of Justice Catastor

1x Ancient Fairy Dragon

1x Ancient Holy Wyvern

1x Armory Arm

1x Black Rose Dragon

1x Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

1x Colossal Fighter

1x Goyo Guardian

1x Magical Android

1x Mist Worm

1x Red Dragon Archfiend

1x Sea Dragon Lord Gishilnodon

1x Stardust Dragon

1x Thought Ruler Archfiend

1x X-Saber Urbellum

The idea behind this deck is to use the Heralds to shut down big plays Lightsworns will try and make, whether it be negating Charge of the Light Brigade or Solar Recharge with green, or a mill, Honest, or other effect, with orange. Purple is sided in case Decrees are sided in, and for the Gladiator Beast, Vayu, and Skill Drain matchups. Herald of Orange Light is also a tuner, and gives me access to my extra deck.

The next key cards in the deck are my playset of Bountiful Artemis. This guy really ties the deck together, being a Fairy to be discarded for my Heralds, allowing my Counter Traps to produce hand advantage, and it also serves as a LIGHT for Chaos Sorcerer. Without Artemis, the deck just isn't as consistent, due to the -1's this deck will be taking just through its main strategy.

Chaos Sorcerer is the boss monster of the deck, and a good boss monster he is. Late game, when I've got my opponent locked down, I can drop this guy for a little more attack power to push for game. Or, if the opponent is in control of the game, Sorcerer allows me to start to swing the momentum back in my favor by removing key cards from play.

Seeing as how you can't play Chaos Sorcerer without some DARK monsters, they're included in here as well. First off, Kycoo the Ghost destroyer gives me massive advantage against the metagame. Lightsworns can no longer use Necro Gardna, and removing stuff from play stops their huge Beckoning power plays. Vayu decks lose the entire core of their deck, and Gladiators can't use Retiari to remove from play my Necro Gardnas.

Speaking of Necro Gardna, I'm running a pair of them in here. It provides an extra DARK for Chaos Sorcerer, and helps solidify my control of the game once Artemis is on the field. It doesn't have the versatility that Kycoo does, but it's a very useful card that can stop big plays and protect important monsters.

The last important DARK monster in the deck is the set of Dekoichis that it's packing. As I said with Artemis, this deck runs out of cards in its hand fast, and this card helps replenish the advantage lost. Not really a whole lot of complexity to this card, it's DARK, it helps draw cards, and it's a slow paced card. It fits perfectly in this deck.

The Spell lineup in this deck is rather simple. Two Allure of Darkness help me keep my hand advantage and dig through my deck for cards I need, and the two Foolish Burials work with Necro Gardna, as well as set up Beckoning plays.

Since a big part of my deck are the three Bountiful Artemis, I play a lot of Counter Traps to support it, as well as help me further control my opponent past what my Heralds can do. Two Bottomless Trap Hole stop big monsters from hitting the field, Bribe stops any problematic Spells or Traps, and also allows me to set many cards on the field without fear of Heavy Storm. Two Divine Wrath help Herald of Orange Light cover monster effects, and also fuels the graveyard. Three Magic Drain forces my opponent into tough decisions that could easily cause misplays, as well as make Charge of the Light Brigades a little more costly to a Lightsworn player. Two Royal Oppression and a Solemn Judgment wrap up my defensive Trap lineup. Seven Tools of the Bandit are sided for the Gladiator matchup.

Beckoning Light is the one non-defensive Trap card I run. It allows me to grab back Heralds for more negation, or grab some LIGHT monsters such as Harvest or Artemis. Another card that ties the deck together.

Overall, this is an interesting deck, if a little inconsistent. I think with some extensive testing, it could be made into a great deck, but I havn't had much time to test recently due to school.

Well, let me know what you think. Any changes are welcome.