Wednesday Night Yu-Gi-Oh! - 29.06.11

I was ecstatic on Monday that my T.G. Hyper Librarians had finally arrived, and as we aren't running officially yet it would provide a good couple of weeks testing for the future. Despite playing Junk Doppel for so long before now, the addition of Extreme Victory certainly makes deck building far more of a complex task than before. I dedicated my initial testing run to a build running Reborn Tengu, assuming he'd be just as good as I'm sure we're all used to by now. Surprisingly, Tengu plays horrendously in the deck, and due to (yet again!) a severe lack of time in which to test I put together a list largely reminiscent of the generic Japanese list, but favoring Solemn Warning over excessive numbers of Limit Reverse. Limit Reverse is vital in the Japanese meta due to the loss of the priority rule, making Lonefire Blossom very vulnerable to a variety of threats.  We maintain our priority rules for the foreseeable future, Warning is far more important as we have Reborn Tengu to answer.

Round 1 - Scraps - OXO

I manage to sweep game 1 without too much difficulty, as I've heard Trishula's pretty good these days. Game 2, however, took a very long time. My opponent synchro'd into 2 Scrap Dragons and 3 Scrap Twin Dragons during the game, and threatened to go again if possible. I picked off each threat, but a couple of painful errors in judgment (and, admittedly, card reading...) eventually cost me the game. In game 3 we swing back and forth, and as I'm readying an alpha strike time is called. He manages to disrupt my push with an unexpected and problematic Lava Golem (!). Thankfully I squeeze a small amount of damage through his defenses and stall out the last turn of time on higher life.

Round 2 - Fabled - OO

Having tested pretty exclusively against this deck in my most recent testing run, I shuffled up expecting him to swiftly dispose of me via turn 1 Reborn Tengu, turn 2 OTK. Whilst he managed the first turn Tengu, I was lucky enough to be able to pick apart the rest of his attempts with well-timed responses followed but a synchro rush. In game 2 he starts yet again with a Reborn Tengu and 3 set spell/traps. Obviously I manage to draw MST off the top of the deck and by sheer luck pick off his set (card name)! Back and forth pushes and stalling end with a pivotal Book of Moon on his tuner before I synchro rush for game.

Round 3 - Agents - XX

As a powerful deck with a wide variety of competitive structures to work with, I eagerly anticipated this matchup to see the performance of whatever variant he was running. I very suddenly regretted being so eager as the match reached its swift, brutal conclusion. Game 1 involved Pot of Duality into (card name) into Agent of Mystery - Earth, finally tutoring Agent of Creation - Venus, which was followed by minimal action by me allowing him to use Venus to swarm with Mystic Shine Balls and synchro into a devastating Trishula, which he rides to the win. I approach the second game optimistically thinking I just needed to start more effectively, and going first should help in that respect, but my optimism is ripped away when Valhalla lands and allows him to special summon Archlord Kristya. I stall for several turns, trying desperately to find an answer whilst he struggles to hit another monster. Ryko eventually provides me a window, but by this time he is easily able to respond to my attempts to strike back. He ends up finishing me swiftly with two copies of Master Hyperion cleaning up the board for the kill.

Round 4 - KMP - XOX

This match was a true testament to the power of the combo-enabling cards in the game right now. Each game came down to the activation of either a Giant Trunade or a Trap Stun, making Solemn Warnings feel like dead weights whilst combo loops are carried out without fail. A total lack of Effect Veiler action with him going first in games 1 and 3, I don't really need to say much as to how resilient the combo is. Chimeratech Fortress Dragon led me to my win, but my deck is far less refined and practiced in performing its combo's than KMP. And it showed clearly.

Conclusion - 2-2

Though I'm obviously fairly disappointed in what was expected to be an explosive debut for T.G. Hyper Librarian, I am now more eager than ever to unlock the potential of the card. Without Shooting Quasar Dragon at our disposal we lack the utterly dominating combo finisher a deck like this needs. A few of us at the event, by sheer coincidence, ran T.G. Halberd Cannon, and the more I see it in action the more convinced I am in its potential. But for me, this list was clearly sub-par and needs a dramatic amount of work to stand against a format of reliable powerhouses like Samurai and Agents. I'll follow up soon with my thoughts on potential routes to take.