XYZ Ruling Update: Would you like a Tour?

September 6, 2011

Categories: Featured YuGiOh! Articles, Free Articles

by Ryan Spicer

Hello once again, and welcome back! Today I want to go over the Updated Rulebook change and how I think it will affect the format, deck choices, and some cards that gain power with the ruling change; specifically the recently added section that goes over XYZ material monsters and how that ruling update effects the interaction between Tour Guide from the Underworld, and Sangan. Let’s start off with a quote from Jerome McHale’s recent article on the yugioh-card.com website that explains what exactly happens to the monster materials when you XYZ summon: “Monsters that become Xyz Materials stop being treated as actual cards on the field. Instead, they become part of the Xyz Monster that’s being Summoned to the field. As a result, the Xyz Materials lose their previous identities and effects and only exist as part of the larger monster. They’re also severed from any effects that were applied to them on the field, which makes sense because they aren’t monsters anymore, they’re pieces of something else.”

You may wonder “how will this affect the game?”, and to answer your question, it will make a major impact on the way games are played. No longer can you just summon a Tour Guide, search a Sangan, make a 2500 beater that nets you a search with Sangan's effect and put yourself in a winning position with just one card. I should note that this also changes the way Reborn Tengu interacts also. Just like how when Reborn Tengu leaves the field to go to the deck and does not get its effect; whenever you XYZ with Reborn Tengu, or when it is detached from a XYZ monster, it no longer has its effect activated.

I think this was an extremely needed change that I was excitedly waiting for to happen. Without this change, every competitive deck would have needed to play 3 copies of Tour Guide from the Underworld without question. You would have had to ultimately accepted the fact that, “if my deck doesn’t play Tour Guide, it probably isn’t worth playing.” I think this is something that Konami realized and part of the reason it was taken care of in a semi-quick fashion. During the period that Tour Guide from the Underworld was peaking, it was reaching near $200 each, which made it very costly to be competitive, but it also made for great potential profits in the secondary market. Now with it at a more reasonable price, it is much more affordable to play, but in my opinion its price will slowly sneak its way back up a little, but definitely not to the point it was at before this change occurred. This will happen because in my opinion, Tour Guide from the Underworld is STILL extremely good, and many people will notice this after YCS Toronto, or as the format progresses.

In my opinion, I would still say that I would stick to decks that are most effective with the use of Tour Guide for the simple reason that, Tour Guide gives you access to Sangan, a 2000-3000 ATK beater in the form of Leviathan, and also access to Leviair, which allows you to Special Summon a level 4 or lower monster from either removed from play area. Tour Guide is just simply versatile, and still very powerful. Having cards that can adapt to many situations without doing anything are very rare and valuable to winning in Yu-Gi-Oh! simply because it gives you more options at a very low cost. The only cost to running Tour Guide is finding room for 3 copies of it and a Sangan. Through all the years of playing Yu-Gi-Oh! the most important key to my success has always been giving myself the most amount of options. Simply put, more options equals a higher chance of winning because you have more ways to get out of sticky situations. Tour Guide possesses those options. With one card you have at a minimum of 4 different plays you can make. That is very crucial and what makes Tour Guide so good in my eyes.

Now in my last article I discussed what decks gained playability and I started off talking about LightSworn and how I didn’t think they were going to be the best choice simply because of them not being able to use Tour Guide in the most effective way. With this rule change, I believe that LightSworn did gain a lot of power because now they shouldn’t be facing down a Leviathan on the first turn nearly every game. With this step back on the emphasis of summoning Tour Guide first turn, it gives LightSworn a little more time to reach the middle to late game, where they generally really start to shine. Also many times the first turn Tour Guide would result in the search of a negating card like Effect Veiler or a Herald of Orange Light. With this out of the way, LightSworn will be a little better, but still not my number one pick due to the consistency problems it has always struggled with.

Where LightSworn got stronger, I feel that Agents got weaker. The reason I liked Agents so much was only because of the fact it had so many ways to stop opposing Tour Guides. With this out of the way, I think that they are definitely a weaker choice than previously.
Now let’s jump into what cards are going to be much stronger with the recent rule update…

Thunder King Rai-Oh is one that jumps out at me, and for good reason. It has a solid 1900 attack, it is a Light (Hello Black Luster Soldier), and now if it negates an XYZ monster, namely Leviathan, the Sangan will no longer get to search after being sent to the graveyard because it was a XYZ material. Before the rule change, if your opponent made a Leviathan with Tour Guide and Sangan and you used Thunder King to negate the summon, they would then get to search with their Sangan. This made Thunder King very unplayable, but with this new change, it makes it so much stronger. Mentioning Black Luster Soldier, I think that it is still going to be run in nearly every deck, but it definitely loses that instant playability it had before the change because of Tour Guide being Dark and immediately being able to search your Light in the form of Effect Veiler. Obviously it will still be played in pretty much any deck that can pack Tour Guide though.

Next up is…. Maxx “C”! In my opinion, this one is going to be a strong main deck choice coming into the next format. Every deck special summons at some point in the game, and many have points in the game where they need to special summon multiple times, and if you drop Max “C”, your opponent is faced with a deadly decision, either let you draw multiple cards, or leave their field in a vulnerable state. Either choice they choose is likely to be punished on your turn as soon as they say “Go”. Max “C” effectively shuts down Venus plays in the Agent deck, and nearly every play that a Plant deck can make. And believe me, Plants are not down and out this format even with the new Banned/Restricted list.

Now with this much needed Rulings update finally in effect, there is now some choices that need to be made… To play Tour Guide, or not to play Tour Guide. In my honest opinion, I say stick to a deck that can abuse Tour Guide, but that decision is now open for debate and only time will tell if Tour Guide is truly needed to be competitive. Remember, you don’t need to XYZ first turn anymore, so leaving that Sangan on the field is also an option, and a deadly one at that. Tour Guide opens up so many possibilities, and I think that time will show just how powerful of a card Tour Guide truly is.

Remember to comment below, and thanks for reading! It is now time to make the decision for yourself, and I hope you enjoyed the Tour! Come back next time!