Hello Yugioh Community! My name is Billy Brake and I am here with my debut article for Alter Reality Games! Let me start off telling you a little bit about myself before I really dive into the heart of this article. I have been playing Yugioh off and on for the past 8 or 9 years. I’ve been traveling and actually trying to play competitively since 2007. I have 9 YCS /SJC/ Nationals Top 16 or better, including: 2nd place at YCS Chicago, 3rd place at SJC Edison, and 4th at YCS Charlotte! While the title of Champion has eluded me so far, I have made it a main goal of mine this year to finally win a major event! Now that you know a little bit about me, it is time for me to move on to what this article is truly about. Less than two weeks ago YCS Charlotte took place. There were a little more than 1000 players competing and I was able to walk away with 4th place. The deck that enabled me to do so well was X – Sabers! Ever since my 2nd place finish at YCS Chicago with X – Sabers, ( even though it was a completely different deck then) many people have looked to me as one of the better players of this deck. Sadly, I had not used X- Sabers for about 6 months, but with the format change I felt that the time was right for me to get back with my X!
Why did I pick X-Sabers to try and win YCS Charlotte?
The main reason why I used X-Sabers was because I felt that it matched up well with most of the decks in the field.
Grakekeeper Matchup – While this is a tough match up for almost every single deck due to a turn 1 Royal Tribute being devastating, I felt X-Sabers would be able to devastate GK’s just as bad from a turn 2 XX-Saber Hyunlei play to destroy their back rows and Necrovalley.
Six Samurai Matchup – Nobody wants to being looking down against a Turn 1 Legendary Six Samurai – Shi En! But, X-sabers rely on their monsters to use their effects to beat their opponent, such as XX-Saber Emmersblade to search out a X-Saber Pashuul who can’t be destroyed by battle, allowing a XX-Saber Faultroll push that will devastate the Samurai player. Without needing spells or traps to make a big move and also a couple of monsters who could not be destroyed by battle, I felt my X-sabers would be at an advantage over the Six Samurai deck.
Dragunity Matchup – This is probably the match up I was most worried about. The fact they can summon a Stardust Dragon Turn 1 with almost no effort is definitely tough for X-Saber to handle. But, with the combination of Effect Veiler to stop them from Synchro Summoning Stardust Dragon, X-Sabers would be able to capitalize with a big Hynulei play to leave the opponent with very little cards.
X-Saber Mirror Matchup – The mirror match is always dreaded no matter what deck a player chooses to wield. I teched out some choices in my main deck to help this matchup such as: 2 Effect Veiler and 2 Seven tools of the Bandit to help stop their Trap Stun plays.
Those were the main 3 decks used during the YCS, the ones I most prepared for, and the ones that I mainly played. I am going to take my deck list apart by sections and go over why I made the choices I made for this particular tournament.
Billy Brake (X-Sabers)
Monsters: 19
2 Effect Veiler
2 XX-Saber Faultroll
2 XX-Saber Boggart Knight
3 XX-Saber Fulhelmknight
3 XX-Saber Emmersblade
3 XX-Saber Darksoul
2 X-Saber Pashuul
1 X-Saber Airbellum
1 Super-Nimble Mega Hamster
Most X-Saber decks tend to have pretty similar monster line-ups, but mine actually looks a little different. I chose to only use 2 copies of XX-Saber Faultroll, while he is the boss monster of the deck and opens up all sorts of havoc for the opponent, this deck can almost search him out at any time and you only need 1 Faultroll each turn to make a big play. My deck only uses 2 copies of XX-Saber Boggart Knight. I felt this card creates the main weakness for the deck ( mainly allowing my opponents Effect Veiler to devastate any play I make) so I did not want to max out on him. I used 1 copy of Super Nimble Mega Hamser, even though this card can be slow, X-Sabers really need to have a XX-Saber Darksoul to get things started and Hamster helps make sure I get access to him early. Lastly, I main decked 2 copies of Effect Veiler. As a player I like to be able to explode on my opponent and then try and stop any big play they try to make back and Effect Veiler helps insure that once I make my big move, my opponent will not be able to recover.
Spells: 10
1 Dark Hole
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Book of Moon
1 Giant Trunade
2 Pot of Duality
2 Enemy Controller
1 Monster Reborn
Most of the spells are pretty standard with a couple of choice I made to help my X-Sabers power. The most interesting spell card I used was the 2 copies of Enemy Controller. I used this card almost as a replacement for the 2 copies of Book of Moon that was lost to the March 2011 Ban list. Enemy Controller allows me to put my opponent monsters in defense mode and helps my XX-Saber Fulhelm Knight capitalize with his effect to put my opponent in a bad spot. I would also use this card to tribute a XX-Saber Darksoul to take my opponents monsters, synchro with them, and then get to search out a monster during my end phase. Enemy Controller opens up for big plays resulting in big pluses for me and leaving my opponent devastated. I also chose to use 2 copies of Pot of Duality for the same reason I chose to run a Super Nimble Mega Hamster, consistency. I wanted to help make sure that all of my hands would be good and Pot of Duality opens me to up to options to make sure I have the best hand possible.
Traps: 11
1 Trap Dustshoot
2 Seven Tools of the Bandit
1 Torrential Tribute
2 Solemn Warning
1 Reinforce Truth
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Mirror Force
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Gottoms’ Emergency Call
My trap line-up is actually pretty interesting. I’ll start off with the 1 copy of Trap Dustshoot. This was actually the 40th card in my deck. I spent the whole week before with this extra spot in my deck and I finally decided to use this powerful Turn 1 card. Looking back it worked out very well, but I would not use it in my main deck again, it just isn’t worth the risk of having a card that can be dead later in the game. I main decked 1 copy of Reinforce Truth. This card works very well because it opens up Faultroll plays without having to rely on XX-Saber Boggart Knight and allows me to have easy access to Naturia Beast with XX-Saber Darksoul. I decided to go with 1 copy of Gottoms’ Emergency Call and 1 copy of Call of the Haunted since Gottoms’ can be dead early in the game and Call of the Haunted opens up lots of combos with Giant Trunade and Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier.
Extra Deck: 15
1 Naturia Barkion
1 Naturia Beast
2 XX-Saber Hyunlei
1 X-Saber Urbellum
1 Stardust Dragon
1 Gaia Knight, the Force of Earth
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Colossal Fighter
1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1 Mist Wurm
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Ally of Justice Catastor
2 XX-Saber Gottoms
My Extra Deck was pretty standard. I feel this is what an X-Saber Extra Deck should look like right now in this current format. There are other Synchro Monsters out there I would like to fit in the deck, but there is simply not enough room without cutting 1 of these guys and I feel all of the Synchro monsters I used were the most important.
I hope this article let the Yugioh Commuinty into the mind of Billy Brake! Remember, any time you are preparing for a major tournament and trying to decide what deck to use, think about all of the other decks that are going to be played, and try and pick whatever deck you think has the best match ups and that you will be successful wielding! If you have any questions or something you think I should write an article about feel free to email me at BillyBrakeYGO@yahoo.com. Also, don’t forget to check out my YouTube Channel – Youtube.com/havok41.
Latest posts by Billy Brake (see all)
- Billy Brake 3rd Place YCS San Mateo – Trigon Dragons Explained - October 10, 2013
- ARG Circut Series Ft. Worth Overview – Billy Brake’s Blue-Eyes Dragon Ruler - September 26, 2013
- ARG Circut Series – Billy Brake’s Decks to Test – Blasting the Axis - September 20, 2013
Get
Connected