A few weeks ago Billy wrote an article on how to play Mystical Space Typhoon. I agree with most things he said in his article, but wanted to take this opportunity to expand on his article with some of my own thoughts. You can check out his original article here.
The Blind Space
In Billy’s article, he talked about not using Space on a random set card when they have multiple sets before you make a play. I agree that often times it is the wrong play to use Mystical Space Typhoon on a set card before making your play, but that isn’t always the case. Consider the following scenario. Your opponent has Sabersaurus on the field with two set backrow that he set at the same time. You’ve got Mystical Space Typhoon and Deep Sea Diva and no other relevant cards and are at 3500. Here, I would argue it is the right play to activate Mystical Space Typhoon on a random set card before summoning Deep Sea Diva. You are in a losing position with one opportunity to get back in the game. Even if your opponent can’t kill you the next turn, you aren’t going to win if your Diva play does not go through. They could draw any Dinosaur, Rabbit, Tour Guide, or any trap card in their deck the following turn to seal the game, even without killing you. Even if they don’t draw one of those, you’ve still got to hope to topdeck the equivalent of a second Diva to hope to get you back in the game the following turn. The odds of surviving the next turn are heavily stacked against you. In this situation, what exactly would you be saving Mystical Space Typhoon for? Game 3?
I think what Billy is talking about more pertains to the early game where both players have several options. If this were the case, saving Mystical Space Typhoon for a later play would be much more effective and crippling to the opponent’s strategy; however, if your options are limited and you only have one play where if it works you’ll win and if it doesn’t you’ll lose, I think it is correct to play Mystical Space Typhoon.
Setting Typhoon on the First Turn
In Billy’s article he also gave reasons why he didn’t think setting Mystical Space Typhoon first turn is a good play. Again, I find this is often the case, but not always. Let’s go through a couple of scenarios to explain the differences.
In the first scenario you are going first against an unknown deck and open with Sabersaurus, Kabazauls, Mystical Space Typhoon, Dark Hole, Dimensional Prison, and Soul Taker; the exact scenario from one of Joe Giorlando’s articles last year. In this case, it’s very important to start with Sabersaurus and follow it up with an Evolzar the following turn. Because of this, you don’t want to risk your Typhoon being hit with one of theirs and thus you should keep it in hand to play it next turn with the logic of the Diva scenario above, but because of the Heavy Storm 3 MST paradox you’re forced to set a second one; Soul Taker or Dark Hole. In this scenario I completely agree with not setting Typhoon the first turn. The risk of it being Typhooned or Heavied is too great since you’ve only got one play and if it isn’t successful you’ll likely lose.
The second scenario is just an extension of the first scenario. You’re playing Wind-Ups and open Typhoon, Torrential, double Factory, Mind Control, and Pot of Avarice. In this scenario you have no plays, but plenty of good draws; Rabbits, Tenkis, Sharks, Tour Guides, and even Warrior. Your hand is very reliant on resolving a Factory search. Because of this, you need whatever one of those good draws to resolve once you draw it. How good of a draw was Shark if it just gets Bottomlessed when you summon it? Similar to the first scenario, you would want to keep the Typhoon in hand here because the risk of setting it and getting it Typhooned here is too great since you need it once you get one of your good draws.
In the next scenario let’s say you’re playing Fire Fist and you’ve got a strong hand of Tour Guide From the Underworld, Monster Reborn, Mystical Space Typhoon, Bottomless Trap hole, Brotherhood of the Fire Fist Bear, and Fire Formation – Tenki. In this scenario I would argue that you would want to set Typhoon on your first turn. You’ve got plenty of options in terms of monsters. On your first turn you may Tour Guide into Zenmaines. On your second turn you’d either play Bear or Tenki into an appropriate monster depending on your opponent’s turn and on your third turn you’d do whichever you didn’t do on the second turn, bar any game changing draws. In this case, making sure your monster goes through is not a priority because you have a lot of options for other monsters. It doesn’t particularly matter if they stop one, you’ve got another and a trap that stops your monster isn’t particularly damaging to your hand. And because of the Heavy Storm MST paradox you are still forced to set two cards on your first turn. I’d say that it is much more important to give yourself a better chance of them missing your Bottomless Trap Hole with a Typhoon of their own. Additionally, Monster Reborn serves as the functional equivalent of a Mystical Space Typhoon in terms of opposing Torrential Tributes, Solemn Warning, and Mirror Forces. Because of these things, I’d say that setting Mystical Space Typhoon here on your first turn is the right play.
In the final scenario, let’s say you’ve got 2 Mystical Space Typhoon, Soul Taker, Monster Reborn, Pot of Avarice, and Kabazauls. You know you’re playing against Fire Fists. In this scenario, you’ve got nothing to protect yourself from a Tenki into Bear. This will put them too far ahead in the game. In this scenario I think it is appropriate to set Typhoon as it is your only form of protection from that.
That wraps up this week’s article. I hope to see you all at YCS Austin next weekend. Until next time, play hard or go home.
Patrick Hoban
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