Return

I have been pretty busy recently, but now that I've gotten some things with my career/schooling out of the way, I'm ready to blog some more again.

I want to tip my hat to Jae Kim, whose recent posts on open vs. closed games (found at pojo.com), and on the opening turn (found at go-ygo.com) are premium insights into advanced YGO strategy. His article about open/closed games, and what style players aim at with certain archetypes, really struck me. It spurred me to reevaluate my long-time project, the Alien deck. I have revised it recently and now have the following list:

3 Alien Ammonite
3 Alien Grey
3 Alien Warrior
3 Alien Dog
2 Alien Telepath
1 Alien Overlord
2 Krebons
1 Chaos Sorcerer
1 Sangan

1 Heavy Storm
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Brain Control
3 Code A Ancient Ruins
3 Mysterious Triangle
1 Swords of Revealing Light
1 Foolish Burial
1 Emergency Teleport
1 One for One
1 Burden of the Mighty

1 Solemn Judgment
2 Trap Stun
2 Fiendish Chain
1 Starlight Road
1 Call of the Haunted

Aliens are definitely an archetype that thrives in a "closed" game, i.e., one with a heavy investment in the field from both players, and typically large hand resources with a variety of choices. Continuous cards like Code A, Burden, Swords, and Chain can create tense game-states in which your opponent's options are limited, and in which you have time to accrue ample resources to make your push. Alien Grey/Code in tandem let you filter cards almost for free, while reviving an Alien monster. Krebons contributes two aspects to the deck: its stall effect lets you play out of mediocre hands and set up your combos, while its synergy with Teleport lets you turn Mysterious Triangle and Alien Telepath in particular into devastating cards. Being able to clear a backrow with Telepath, or a monster with Triangle, then follow it up with Krebons into Goyo, can be a back-breaking play.

Krebons is also a DARK for the perennially broken Chaos Sorcerer, who gets the nod in here even with only 4 other DARKs. Sorcerer is an amazing out to Stardust Dragon, any other Synchro, or a boss monster like Judgment Dragon. It can be synced with Krebons for your own LV8, including even Dark End Dragon, or with Ammonite for Arcanite Magician (a card usually only seen in Synchro Cat) or the game-ending Ancient Sacred Wyvern. Sorc can occasionally be dead in hand, but its power once it hits the field is undeniable and often game-shifting.

The unorthodox Trap lineup here attempts to bolster the overall strategy of exploding a complex game state. One for one removal, like Bottomless Trap Hole or Dimensional Prison, is eschewed for options that can work with Gol'gar (Chain), protection for those options and for our Spells (Road, Solemn), and a pair of Trap Stuns. Remember we want to leave some opponent's monsters on the field so as to have the option of exploiting any and all A-Counters placed on them by our effects. Stun helps us to circumvent problem cards like the pestilent Royal Oppression, or the aforementioned BTH. A Stun play into Gol'gar/Chaos is often just monumental.

I have not often been a fan of Alien Overlord, but it gets the nod here due to the extra support afforded it by Chaos and the Psychic engine. Its LV6 and thus can be synced with Krebons for a powerful LV8, esp. Stardust to protect our infrastructure. As a DARK, it supports Chaos, and overall, it gives us some more options.

My next article will look at Neo-Flamvells, as per request.