Hello Yugioh Community! Another Weekend another YCS! Lately it seems as if there is a major event every other weekend! Luckily, YCS Philadelphia will be the last event before the World Championship Qualifier in Columbus, Ohio at the end of June. With this event being only days away I wanted to spend some time discussing all of the different card choices for the side deck. In the metagame right now there are only a few different decks that are extremely popular and each of them has a legitimate chance to win. Having the right cards in your side for these match-ups could make all the difference this weekend from finishing with a record of X-2 and making the top 32 cut or ending up X-3 having lost on the bubble. Keep in mind I am not going to be talking about how to side with a particular deck. All of my suggestions will be general cards that you can adapt and use as long as it doesn’t conflict with your own deck.
Question of the Article: What deck do you think will win YCS Philadelphia?
Don’t forget to answer the question of the article in the comments down below!
WHAT ARE THE MAIN DECKS THAT ALL DUELISTS SHOULD BE SIDE DECKING FOR!!!!!
In Yugioh today there are three main decks that are dominating the format: Dino-Rabbit, Inzektors, and Chaos Dragons. In my opinion, anyone of these three decks has a very real shot at winning YCS Philadelphia, but at the same time it is hard to say if one of the decks is better than the other . Since they are all contenders it is important to side for each and every one of them. There is other more under-the-radar decks should also keep in mind when constructing your side deck such as HEROs, Dark World, Wind-Up, and the new Hieratics. The odds of running into more than two of any of these decks ( possibly more HEROs) is fairly low so I chose not to include them in my overall analysis, but don’t fall asleep on them!
DINO RABBIT
Possibly the most powerful and boring deck of all time! This deck is jam packed with normal monsters who like to turn into big ugly Evolsaur Dragons who can negate anything you do. This deck has had a spot in one of the top decks in the meta ever since its release towards the end of 2011. Even though priority is gone this deck was still able to take the top 2 spots at YCS Chicago ( Despite my efforts it was the deck that eliminated me from contention in the top 4). The little input and high output plays that this deck has make it quite appealing to very many duelist which is why we must make sure we are prepared!
MESSENGER OF PEACE – This card is easily my favorite side deck for this match-up. Most rabbit decks only main/side deck four answer cards (3 Mystical Space Typhoon and 1 Heavy Storm) for this kind of stall. The only monsters in most Rabbit decks that will be able to attack are there 3 Tour Guide From the Underworld and a Sangan. You can really put a hold on anything Rabbit can throw at you with this continuous spell card. It is also a card that can be used against HEROs and Chaos Dragons! We love cards that can be sided for more than one deck!
SNOWMAN EATER – I like this card a lot in this match up right now. I feel that it is better than Spirit Reaper and Gellenduo since the release of Photon Papilloperative. That rank 4 XYZ instantly kills a Spirit Reaper with its targeting effect and can put any monster into attack mode to make sure Gellenduo would not survive. Since the stall monsters are no longer as awesome as they once were, it is good to rely on good ol’ Snowman who can take down a Laggia without even thinking twice. A downside to this card is if they make a Dolkka and attack it they will be able to negate his effect. This can be a problem, but at least most of the time it is easier to get a Dolkka off the field rather than staring down a Laggia for turns and turns not being able to get around him. This card is also really helpful in the HERO match-up since usually their strongest monsters attack is only 1900 the same as Snowman’s defense.
SMASHING GROUND/SOUL TAKER – It is obvious that any monster removal is great against this deck. I only wanted to touch on the fact that siding Soul Taker over Smashing Ground is not too bad of an idea. With the side deck space being so tight we need to make sure we can side cards that work in multiple match-ups. Soul Taker is a great form of removal and 1000 life points in most duels is not going to make or break the game. I will go into more detail about why I like this card in its discussion for other decks.
INZEKTOR
It is arguable that Inzektors are the most popular deck choice right now. In Galactic Overlord they picked up a new monster that gives this deck access to LV 5 monsters and they can abuse Photon Strike Bounzer about as well as Chaos Dragons. I would not be surprised if a majority of the duelist competing in YCS Philly will be wielding this combo-based deck.
EFFECT VEILER – If for some reason you do not have 3 copies of this card in your main deck please stop reading this article and go make some adjustments! Even though most players do make the choice to include this card in their main deck, if for some reason you don’t you need to at least have these guys in the side. All of the Inzektors rely on their monster effects to equip Hornet to destroy all the cards on your field while special summoning monsters and adding more Inzektor cards to your hand. This card can single handily shut all of it down and win you the game. Effect Veiler gives you your best shot in this match-up.
SHADOW-IMPRISONING MIRROR/ MACRO COSMOS - Shadow Mirror is an awesome side card since all of the Inzektors are dark and have effects that activate on the field. This card is fairly self explanatory and if your deck does not rely on any sort of Dark monsters then you better be sure to include this card in your side deck.
Macro will do virtually the same thing as Shadow, but even more effective if your deck does not need to rely upon the graveyard. Even if your opponent already has a face-up Hornet equipped to an Inzektor if you flip this card up they won’t even be able to activate the Hornet’s effect to pop ( while they would under Shadow-Mirror since the Hornet is considered a Spell Card)
CHAIN DISAPPEARANCE/ TRAP HOLE – Chain disappearance has been a fan favorite for this match-up for quite some time, but you could be just delaying your opponent from really going off. If you Chain Disappearance an Inzektor Dragonfly you have successfully stopped your opponent from going off that turn, but all three copies of his Dragonfly have now been removed and he is just one Leviair the Sea Dragon from going off on you. Another down side to Chain D is the fact that cards like Inzektor Centipede and Inzektor Hopper do exist and will gladly pop this dead back row for free.
Trap Hole on the other hand can be just as effective, hit more cards in the deck, and not have to worried about a Leviair looking for revenge. It is an instant answer to almost any monster in your opponents deck, but Trap Hole cannot stop special summons so you must be careful!
CHAOS DRAGONS
This deck almost came out of nowhere after the release of the Dragons Collide starter deck a few months ago, but ever since it won the YCS in France and came in second at YCS Dallas it has become a major contender and a fan favorite. Chaos Dragons can drop boss monster after boss monster at you until you cannot take anymore. They will try to OTK you every turn they can and if they resolve a Future Fusion then it’s almost certain defeat. The main weakness in this deck is how reliant it is on the graveyard and the enormous amount of monsters the deck uses.
DIMENSIONAL FISSUE/MACRO COSMOS – If there is no graveyard then Chaos Dragons have a hard time summoning any of their monsters. Both of these cards can really put a dent into any dragon duelist strategy and can easily seal a duel for you. Most Chaos Dragon decks do run 3 copies of Lyla and 3 copies of Ryko so when you do draw these cards make sure you use them correctly! Not only do these cards stop their monsters from being summoned, but can help while fighting them off in the late game. I once played a game where my opponent had a Card Trooper and a Light Pulsar Dragon with a Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon in the grave. I was holding Dark hole, but activating it would do me know good since he would draw a card from trooper and get Light Pulsar’s effect and special back the Red-Eyes. I top decked a Dimensional Fissure and since all of his monster effects triggered in the graveyard I was able to banish them instead and remove the threat. Overall either of these cards are great to have in this match-up.
SOUL TAKER- Now I can finally tell you why I like this card over Smashing Ground. Soul Take allows a player to destroy an opponent’s face-up monster and then it gives your opponent 100 Life points. This is important because the last thing to happen would be the life gain and not the monster going to the graveyard so optional effects that trigger when the monster hits the grave would miss timing! This umbrella includes the ever annoying Light Pulsar Dragon and even Elemental HERO - The Shinning in the HERO match up. The fact that your opponent gains 1000 life is a great trade off to freely eliminate nast threats!
Electric Virus – The ultimate punishment card in the Dragon match-up. If your opponent is foolish enough to summon a big dragon, such as Light Pulsar Dragon, and not be able to kill you, there will be a high chance to OTK your opponent with this card. Electric Virus allows you take control of virtually anoy boss monster in this deck ( Outside of BLS and Chaos Sorcerer) . I still remember this one game my opponent had summoned a Dark Armed Dragon, but was not able to finish me off and his Dark Dragon was struck with a virus and I made sure DAD took down all of my opponent’s life points the following turn. Electric Virus can be very powerful and help for some quick victories in this match-up!
Conclusion: YCS Philly is this weekend and there are three decks that I feel have a legitimate chance at winning the whole thing. Chaos Dragons, Inzektors, and Dino-Rabbit seem to be in a class of their own right now and making sure you have your side built for them can be critical. I went over my favorite generic cards to side for each match-up and it is my strong suggestion that every duelist keep all of the cards I mentioned in mind when filling out their deck list in this last major event before the World Championship Qualifier 2012.
Thanks for reading if you have any questions, comments, or concerns feel free to leave them in the comments below. Also don’t forget to answer the question of the article! ARG will be vending at YCS Philly so feel free to stop by and say hi or if you see me just roaming around the halls it won’t be weird to say Hello!
-Billy Brake
-YCS Toronto and Columbus Champion
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