What's going on everyone? I hope you all had a fantastic weekend in the yugi-world or even just in your everyday world. With that being said, lets start by going into the "regional recaps" you could say over the past few weekends. Without using exact details and exact information, its safe to say that Dragon Ruler/Elemental Dragons have been taking the majority of the top spots across the country since its release date and being legal in tournament play. We all know what the deck does, what the decks main focus is, what cards we will be maining/siding for that matchup, etc, etc. But what we all don't really know, is how/or what the Dragon Rulers/Elemental Dragons can side to counteract the opposing cards coming in for games 2 and 3. So during this article, I am going to go into a few choice cards I have been tinkering around with to try and "change up the swing of things" you could say when it comes to side decking.

[ccProd]Trap Eater[/ccProd]: This little old common card has not seen hardly any serious play aside from when lightsworn would side it to counter opposing Light-Imprisoning Mirror. How can this help Dragons? Well what is the common side deck continuous traps people will be/possibly siding against you? [ccProd]Imperial Iron Wall [/ccProd] for sure. And [ccProd]Soul Drain[/ccProd]. The flexibility of [ccProd]Trap Eater[/ccProd] handles to problematic cards that can cripple a Dragon player as soon as they are flipped face up. [ccProd]Trap Eater[/ccProd] is also a level 4 tuner which can allow for [ccProd]Scrap Dragon[/ccProd], [ccProd]Crimson Blader[/ccProd], [ccProd]Red Dragon Archfiend[/ccProd], [ccProd]Stardust Dragon[/ccProd], [ccProd]Thought Ruler Archfiend[/ccProd], Etc plays for the future if you have one of the baby dragons in your hand. Granted its a dark attribute which does not flow with the elements, but it can still hold its own ground when you need to get a pesky continuous trap off the field. Especially when a Evilswarm player flips a [ccProd]Safe Zone[/ccProd] on a Ophion.

Book of Eclipse: Yes, this old book from the Empty Jar days is in the testing stages also for me. A lot of Dragon players I know are siding and or maining a copy or [ccProd]Obelisk the Tormenter[/ccProd]. (myself included) And this 1 card is a single out to him. Since it does not target it will flip him down and all other monsters. Then what do you do? Make Number 11: Big Eye and take it from them! Something I've noticed about when people side into Obelisk, they use a lot of resources early game to try and summon him ASAP since he is essentially a blow out. Well, what does wasting resources mean? Having very few to zero cards in your hand. By that time, you can take control of your opponent's Obelisk and what can they do from there? Sure they can banish some dragons in your graveyard and make some XYZ plays and maybe a synchro play, but they still cant handle Obelisk. I do strongly suggest try and test this card in the side deck.

[ccProd]Forbidden Chalice[/ccProd]: The once very popular quick play spell is actually my second favorite card in my side deck at the moment (The first to be named later). It shuts off Draccosac plays, Big Eye plays, [ccProd]Crimson Blader[/ccProd], Ophion, Kycoo, Jowgen, etc. Gives you that extra little boost if your opponent is trying to run over your monster with theirs so that is not always bad. But its acts as a pseudo [ccProd]Forbidden Lance[/ccProd] you could say. Since the Dragon deck does not essentially care about your opponent having tons and tons of backrows since they can bait them all out and still end with a crazy field, you mainly care about the monster effects that are on the field to stop your plays. We all know that [ccProd]Breakthrough Skill[/ccProd] acts as the same purpose, but this is just another weapon to add to the arsenal. This card has given me amazing results during testing and I intend to keep it in my side deck until I find something better.

[ccProd]Buster Blader[/ccProd]: Yes, you read that right. [ccProd]Buster Blader[/ccProd]. The old school Yugi card from the old television shows is actually holding a single spot in my side deck right this very second (which is my favorite card in there). This card gets very, very big in the Dragon mirror match. A simple 3 Dragons on field or grave gives his mighty sword an extra 1500 atk points. That makes him able to swing over opposing Obelisk. He is also a level 7 which can benefit you with an XYZ play if you need too. And he is also an Earth attribute to help for Redox/Reacton. The simple fact that you can easily summon a monster from your hand or even graveyard with an instant 4000+ attack that can grow even higher just seems insane to me. I know you all are either saying how much this idea is terrible or how you think its just "cool" or you will even try it out for yourself. I know when I found this out about a week ago, I instantly sent a mass text to fellow members Frazier Smith, Joe Giorlando and my best friend Steffon Bizzell. They all seemed to find it interesting and thought it was a cool idea that just might "get there". Well during my testing, this card has "gotten" me there on more then one occassion. This card may seem funny to be playing at first, but didn't [ccProd]Catapult Turtle[/ccProd] make a comeback at last years nationals?

These are all just a few cards I have been some testing with to prepare myself for Nationals of course. I know I mentioned the side deck a lot during this article, but that is where the tech cards will mainly be coming from when it comes to Dragon players. There is not a whole lot a Dragon player can do to the main deck to tech it out. All the builds I have seen in the OCG or even from past regionals across our country, the main decks are all generically the same. Maybe a few different 1-3 card choices here and there, but nothing extremely teched out and out of the ordinary from other builds. If you have any cool tech ideas you have been testing, post them below! With National season underway, how will you try and tame the elements? Or will you try to bend the elements in your own way? Only you can decide. Until next time, Play Hard or Go Home.

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