Hello Yugioh World! Sorry it's been a while since my last article but with all these events coming and going I figure it's time for me to write another one, I'm back this time with some information that hopefully many people will find useful. Since the the format has been progressing, I'm here today to tell some of my favorite cards at this current point in time that I include in a lot of the decks that I build as well as some cards which I don't like all that much right now.
Fiendish Chain
I'm sure that most people have realized by now how popular this card is, as you see many decklists running 3 copies of this card. There are many reasons why people have bumped this card up to 3 copies_besides people looking to find a replacement for the Solemn Warning they lost. This card is the most well rounded Trap you can have that is effective against a majority of matchups across the board. Against Mermail-Atlanteans which is arguably the top deck of the format, it stops Megalo and Abyssteus from searching and possibly ending you, Big Eye from taking your monsters away from you and Abyssgaios from negating all your effects, Fiendish Chain also stops Diva and Abysspike and you can chain the card to Marksman so it won't be destroyed. Mermails can easily put 8000 damage on board so Fiendish being able to negate an effect and stop the attack does a lot for you. Fiendish Chain is also good against Fire Fist. It stops Tiger King, Bear, Gorilla and Tour Guide, though you do need to watch out for Forbidden Lance and MST. We all know already the card is good against Wind-Ups so not so much to explain there, and it's good against Dino Rabbit, as long as you aren't staring down a Sabersaurus or Kabazauls. The card is good against a number of other less played decks as well such as Geargia variants, Karakuri, Six Samurai, Agents, and Inzektors. Unlike Bottomless Trap Hole, even if you see it after your opponent puts a monster on board it still has use, so it's really hard for it to be dead unless you're are facing Dark World or Heroes. This is one of my favorite Trap Cards right now and is in many of the decks that I build.
Breakthrough Skill
This is another Trap card which I really like right now considering the way the format is developing. Although this card can't do everything that Fiendish Chain does, this card does things that Fiendish simply isn't able to. With the popularity of Fiendish Chain, people try and hold their MSTs to counter it however that doesn't work with Breakthrough Skill. Having your Diva or Tour Guide broken through isn't a good feeling especially since you know it's now in their Graveyard for them to use later. Cards like Zenmaines, Maestroke, Abyssgaios, and Kristya are very annoying, but if you have Breakthrough Skill in your Graveyard you can negate their effects by banishing it, then you can do what you want. If I hit this card with Heavy Storm or MST I wouldn't be too happy, since then I would have to be wary of what I put on board. Making your opponent play around a card that is in your Grave is always a good feeling. Decks that mill like Chaos Dragons or Lightsworn can take advantage of this card because even if you mill it you can still use it on your turn to negate your opponent's effects. You can even use it alongside Treacherous Trap Hole in Agents you want since you can remove it from your Graveyard so Treacherous won't be dead. I recommend trying this card out to see if you like it in any of your decks.
Forbidden Lance
I'm pretty sure most people by now have witnessed this card having an increase in play and price since the format began. With Warning going to one and people playing more copies of Fiendish Chain, multiple copies of Mirror Force and Dimensional Prison this card had no choice but to become better. Lancing your monster when your opponent activates Torrential with their own monster(s) on board can be game breaking. Fire Fists can make the best of this card, the attack loss a lot of the time irrelevant since the monster will just be getting destroyed by Bear most likely. Their monsters can get to be pretty big so one of them combined with a Lance can take down most commonly played monsters and getting their effects off. Protecting certain monsters that lock your opponent out of playing certain cards or effects like Abyssgaios, Laggia, Dolkka and Abyss Dweller with Lance can make it so your opponent little chance winning and with people playing more Traps, that will happen more often. This is one of the best Spell Cards you can play right now and if you can somehow get some for cheap, get them as soon as you can.
Cardcar D
Ever since this card came out I've always liked it since it adds consistency to any deck you add it to. Unfortunately I never just found the opportune time to play it in any of the decks that I played, however now many decks can take advantage of it. With the heavy amount of backrows decks run now, opening up with Cardcar and setting 2 Traps behind it shouldn't be too uncommon to see as it's a really solid opening play. Even if your opponent uses Heavy Storm on your 2 backrows next turn, it isn't as devastating since you just got a +1 with Cardcar, and your opponent has just used their Heavy which means you don't have to worry about it for the rest of the game.If you and your opponent are both low on resources, Cardcar D is a good draw since it allows you to get ahead of your opponent and seeing more card means having more options. Cardcar D is good in decks like Wind-Ups, Dino Rabbit and Fire Fists since it allows you to see combo pieces and the cards you need faster such as Tenki, Factory, Tour Guide and Rescue Rabbit and can do it without much drawback since all of those decks play a lot of Traps, so you can set some of them behind Cardcar. The only thing is against Water, Cardcar D might not be the best card in the world to see since the deck is really fast and aggressive so you want to try and put some pressure on them which Cardcar doesn't do, so if you are running it, I'd advise siding in out against Mermails. Overall, I really do like this card right now even with Water being the most played deck, with Sangan getting the banhammer a lot of decks need the added consistency.
Tragoedia/Gorz
With Mermails being the most popular deck right now as well as other decks such as Karakuris and Hieratics making showing at events all over the country, it seems that going from 8000 to 0 in the first few turns isn't so uncommon. Trag and Gorz can be your saving grace versus those super aggro decks and they can allow you to turn the duel around. One big reason why I like these hand traps right now is because of Heavy Storm. When I am playing against Mermails and I get Heavy Stormed, I usually see myself scooping up my cards after they throw down a Diva and a Megalo, Gorz and Trag can be the best answer to some of their plays especially in combination with Maxx C, since a majority of the time you will be getting a plus off of it if you play it at the right time. Some people might not play Gorz because it conflicts with cards like Fiendish Chain, Wind-Up Factory, or Dimensional Fissure, but when I see a player lose to Mermails, a lot of the time it is because of Heavy Storm wiping all of their backrows away. If you have a dead Gorz in your hand, that means your continuous spells and traps are still faceup and that you most likely aren't losing the duel, there are obviously exceptions to this but majority of the time it will go that way. If you say to yourself, the only way I will lose is if I get Heavy Stormed, then why not run a card which allows you to possibly win even if that happens?
Dimensional Fissure/Banisher of the Radiance
As everybody knows by now, these cards are a pain in the rear to stare down when playing with Mermails, being shutting off from playing any of your cards besides Deep Sea Diva isn't a pleasant feeling. I like these 2 cards in conjuction with each other since if you have both of them on the field, you blanket the other cards weakness. Having Banisher plus Dimensional Fissure and a Trap or two face-down can be really difficult to answer outside of Heavy Storm, since even if they get rid of either the Banisher or D-Fissure they still have to deal with the other so most of the time players usually wait until they can get rid of both which can be hard to do when getting pressured. Shutting off Hand-Traps like Maxx "C" and Effect Veiler is another thing I like about these cards, decks like Wind-Ups especially can take advantage of this, getting off power plays unhinged. A common play by Mermail players is setting Abysslinde and Dust Tornado or Mystical Space Typhoon Game 2 or 3 to stop themselves from losing out to Dimensional Fissure, however that doesn't stop Banisher from removing it from play. Another thing I like is when a Mermail player has one set Spell or Trap which I read as an Abyss-Sphere and I have D-Fissure in my hand, I will set 2 Traps and try to end my turn, then the Mermail player flips Abyss-Sphere before I end my turn and since I am still in my Main Phase 2 I still can play my D-Fissure and stop their play, which can be severly crippling a lot of the time. These cards are also very effective against a lot of other lesser played decks like Dark World, Inzektors (moreso Banisher and not D-Fissure), Agents, Chaos Dragons, and even rogue strategies like Herald of Perfection which I happened to face at YCS Austin Round 5 while undefeated.
Book of Moon
This is one of the cards I'm not too fond of right now. I feel that as people run more Traps in their decks, I become more reluctant I become to put this in many of mine. Sure you can Book your opponent's monster and possibly stop them from going off, but when your opponent sets some backrows behind it, it gets harder to get the monster off the field and if you don't they will just flip it next turn and try and do the same thing with you being down a card. It becomes even worse when you Book the monster and are forced to used Bottomless, Torrential or Warning on it to get rid of it, making you use 2 cards on one monster whereas a card like Fiendish Chain might be better in those kinds of situations. Against Mermails, besides Abyssgaios face-down I usually don't like having this card most of the time, I don't like having to use Book of Moon on a Marksman. That deck can put a lot of monsters on the board at once and I would rather remove one or all of them off the field rather than just flipping them face-down. Though there are certain decks like Dino Rabbit and Fire Fists can take advantage of Book of Moon alongside Forbidden Lance to destroy monsters by battle, like with Guaiba to make an Evolzar or Gorilla to search for a Fire Formation Spell or Trap. There are also other decks that can take advantage of Book such as Gravekeeper's reusing your Spies, or Geargia or dodge Veiler or Fiendish Chain. In most things though I don't like this card too much right now, but it might regain spots in many of my decks in the future though.
Well guys that's it for this article, I know that there are many other cards which are popular right now that I didn't cover. If there any other cards that you really like running or that you don't like running in your decks right now, leave them in the comments below! Hopefully many of you got something good out of this article. Until next time!
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