Archetype discussion #1 - Evilswarm

Hi readers. Welcome to my first archetype discussion. Today I will be talking about Evilswarm or as they are known in Japan, the Verz. In this segment I will discuss the archetypes history, their relevance in the current competitive meta-game, discuss their individual cards and post a deck list or two.

Evilswarm are an archetype of dark monsters that are best recognised by their attack and defence both ending with 50 (excluding Kerykeion). Each of the Evilswarm's are corrupted versions of other monsters, for example, Evilswarm Mandragora is a corrupted Naturia Cosmobeet. The full list can be seen here: http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Lswarm. The monsters are mostly level/rank 4 and the deck's main focus is getting out and protecting their many different xyz's.

The Evilswarm archetype has recently been released in the TCG in Hidden Arsenal 7, Knight of Stars. 

The deck has become extremely popular in Japan due to its relative effectiveness versus the powerful Elemental dragons and Spellbook/prophecy archetypes. The ability for the deck to play Macro cosmos and the eradicator/deck devastation virus cards gives it a great boost in our current meta. Resolving an eradicator epidemic virus can often seal the game versus decks such as Hero's and Prophecy.

The deck's main advantage however, is its 'trump' card, Evilswarm Ophion. This xyz can be extremely hard to deal with because of its ability to search out an infestation pandemic virus, protecting itself and all other face-up Evilswarms from spells and traps for the turn. Also, while this card has xyz material, level 5 or higher monsters cant be special summoned. Meaning no Gorz, Tragoedia, Master Hyperion, Elemental hero the shining, High priestess of prophecy and the list goes on.  Leaving you with only a few ways of dealing with the powerful Ophion. Your best bet against the card is removal like snowman eater (searchable with Abysspike) or cards such as Inzektor hornet. However, a good Evilswarm duelist would have planned for these cards and would have counters such as forbidden dress and safe-zone to add further protection to Ophion. Safe zone is a great way to protect Ophion, because when your opponent finds the mystical space typhoon/heavy storm to remove it, the Evilswarm player can just activated their searched Infestation pandemic and protect Ophion from safe zones destruction effect.

The other Evilswarm xyz's are great but Ophion is the Evilswarm you will be seeing the most of. The Evilswarm deck is focused on getting out the two required level 4 Evilswarm monsters and you will rarely go a game without seeing Ophion. 

Evilswarm Bahamut is the Evilswarm version of Big eye, with its effect to steal opponents monsters. Evilswarm Ouroboros is the Evilswarm version of Trishula, dragon of the ice barrier, with its very similar effects. 

The most effective and commonly used Evilswarm monsters are as follows (not in any particular order): 

• Evilswarm Mandragora - Its cyber dragon like effect helps with quick access to having multiple level 4's on the field at a given time. Usually play 2-3 copies. 
• Evilswarm Heliotrope - A big 1950 atk beat-stick that can be brought out by Rescue Rabbit for an instant Ophion. Also gets over troublesome 1900 atk monsters. Run 3 with Rescue Rabbit.
• Evilswarm Thunderbird - Evilswarm's own wind-up rabbit. Be careful though, unlike rescue rabbit, its effect can only be activated in response to another effect. Run 3.
• Evilswarm Kerykeion - Although not currently out in the TCG, Kerykeion is a one card xyz and a huge boost to Evilswarms. Run 3 when its released. 
• Evilswarm Castor - A great card that is searchable with reinforcement of the army. Its effect cannot be negated with effect veiler either since it provides a condition to the field when summoned. Run 3.

Below is the current Evilswarm deck I play online and if I were to make the deck in real life, this is the version I would play, (Post Kerykeion):

Monsters: 19

3 Evilswarm Heliotrope

3 Evilswarm Thunderbird

3 Evilswarm Kerykeion

3 Evilswarm Castor

2 Evilswarm Mandragora

2 Rescue rabbit

2 Effect veiler

1 Dark armed dragon

Spells: 11

3 Forbidden dress

2 Infestation pandemic

2 Mystical space typhoon

1 Allure of darkness

1 Monster reborn

1 Dark hole

1 Heavy storm

1 Reinforcement of the army

 

Traps : 10

2 Safe zone

2 Compulsory evacuation device

2 Bottomless trap hole

1 Infestation infection

1 Solemn warning

1 Solemn judgement

So that's my take on Evilswarm. I hope you enjoyed the article and learnt a bit more about this fascinating new Archetype. 

Until next time! 

~Matt

YCS New Jersey!

Ycs New Jersey is happening on May 11-12 2013. Its the next premier event we should all be keeping our eyes on.

Before every YCS I will post here giving my predictions and thoughts. New Jersey will be an interesting YCS to say the least. The deck everyone is talking about, Evilswarm, will most definitely be there as well as the new Constellar deck. However, both of these new archetypes are missing key cards to their strategy. Evilswarm Kerykion will only be released in Lord of the tachyon galaxy and is a vital card to their strategy. Kerykion is a one card rank 4 exceed provided you have the grave set up.

My opinion on Evilswarm is: A solid strategy that counters many of the current meta decks (Mainly Mermail, Karakuri and Prophecy) but is also extremely linear and predictable. The deck just spams evilswarm Ophion and protects it. When needed, the deck can also use its other exceeds such as evilswarm ouroborous and its own Big Eye, Evilswarm bahamut.

Fire fist are another effective yet linear strategy that will most definitely be at the event. They have the ability to side deck banisher of the radiance and dimensional fissure, cards that if unanswered, shut down the mermail deck completely.They also have a good matchup vs Evilswarm so expect a rise in popularity in fire fist at New Jersey.

I still think Mermail will take the most top spots at the event, as it is, in my opinion, the best deck at the moment but I also think we will see alot of rogue decks taking top spots. Because of the hype around evilswarms people are going to take decks that counter both evilswarm and have decent matchups vs mermail/fire fist. Decks like Inzektor, Wind-ups and frog monarchs will be at the event.

Surprisingly so, Frog monarchs have gained a lot of popularity lately and for good reason. 3 tops at the last 2 YCS's in a format riddled with Mermails and Fire fist. The deck has an amazing Mermail matchup with its ability to stop their otk with a timely battle fader and then proceed to clear the board with dark dust spirit or drop a timely vanities fiend. Also, the ability to banish a mermail abysslinde with caius is a great advantage. Cards like enemy controller and soul exchange get rid of problematic Abyssgaios and other troublesome xyz's. Frogs monarchs also play the extremely powerful light and darkness dragon, a card that shuts down the fire fist deck.

In summary, I feel mermail will take the most top spots at the event, with fire fist and evilswarm making an appearance too. I also predict many different rogue decks to do well and wish everyone attending the event the best of luck!

Matt's current deck!

Hey! Welcome to my first deck list/profile. Its the deck I've been running for the past while and have had great success with it. I've played the deck for months now and feel really comfortable with my current list.

Firstly, I will share my list, then discuss certain card choices and match-ups.

Matt's Hero Beat (Bubble Beat):

Monsters: 10

1 E-Hero Stratos

3 E-Hero Neos Alius

2 E-Hero Bubbleman

2 Thunder King Rai-Oh

1 Photon Thrasher

1 Honest

Spells: 17

3 Miracle fusion

3 Gemini spark

2 E-Emergency call

2 Mystical space typhoon

2 Pot of duality

1 Reinforcement of the army

1 Monster reborn

1 Dark hole

1 Heavy storm

1 Super polymerization

Traps: 13

2 Dimensional prison

2 Bottomless trap hole

2 Torrential tribute

2 Compulsory evacuation device

1 Mirror force

1 Fiendish chain

1 Hero blast

1 Solemn warning

1 Solemn Judgement

1 Starlight road

Extra Deck

2 E-Hero the shining

2 E-Hero absolute zero

1 E-Hero nova master

1 E-Hero Great tornado

1 E-Hero Escuridao

1 E-Hero Gaia

1 Heroic Champion Excalibur

1 Blade armor ninja

1 Maestroke

1 Utopia

1 Abyss dweller

1 Starliege Paladyanamo

1 Stardust dragon

The side deck changes every week so I wont share that right now. I change it based on where I am playing and what decks I expect to be there.

The deck runs really consistently and usually achieves what it sets out to do every game. That is, gain small card advantages through gemini spark, hero blast, E-Hero stratos and smart use of the many traps in the deck, then explode in the late game with cards like miracle fusion and E-Hero Bubble man.

The deck can change its play style from control to aggro very quickly because of its access to powerful exceeds such as Heroic champion excalibur and the big E-Hero fusions.  

I like photon thrasher for a few reasons: Its a warrior, which means it can go into the warrior xyz's and also means it can be searched through reinforcement of the army. Its 2100 attack can be very useful too, especially with getting over sabersaurus, gene warped warwolfs, evilswarm heliotropes and other pesky 1900+ Beaters. Its light too which gives it synergy with honest and the ability to use it for the summoning of the Shining.

I used to play more traps but after much thought decided I needed to play more aggressively this format because of the existence of mermails. The mermail matchup is a difficult one due to its speed and ability to explode without using too many cards. My way of dealing with mermails is smart use of Abyss Dweller and getting out Absolute zero as often as possible. They struggle to deal with Zero, and the fact that he gains 500 Atk for every water monster on the field can make him a real game ender.

Skill drain is a card I decided to take out of the main deck. Its a great card but really conflicts with my xyz's, especially in the mermail matchup where I really need abyss dweller's effect to control the game. I do however, side deck my skill drains for decks like geargia, inzektors, wind-ups and other rogue decks. 

Im comfortable with 2 Mystical space typhoons at the moment. I used to play just the one but my meta has become very mermail heavy and alot of the time when I was playing just the single typhoon, not bieng able to answer their Abyss-Spheres was a major disadvantage.

I have a lot more to say about the deck and will edit this post as I go.

Well, thats it for now. I really enjoyed writing up this deck profile, coming up next. Matt's Inzektor deck!

First Post

Hey all! Welcome to my blog!

This blog will contain Yugioh news, deck lists, tournament reports and archetype discussions. Hopefully my posts will help you become a better player as well as provide you with quality Yugioh related information. 

The blog will mainly be focussed on the TCG but I will also share any important OCG news too. My first real bit of content will be a deck list/analysis on the deck list page. Go ahead and check it out!

Also, please click an advert anywhere on the blog. Will really help me out.

Bye for now

~Matt