Tech cards that cost 0,02 euros to elevate your decks from horrible to slightly-less-horrible. This article is mostly meant for the "old-school" players, and those who just insist on using old decks. Personally I'd take my "Ice Dragon's Prison" any day, but when I hear nonsense about the game being too expensive by people who run "Legendary Ocean" and "Battle Ox" in 2020-21 I get pissed off (yes, those people still exist). This is for them, in the hope that they will stop being an embarassment to everyone else in our mess of a community.
About a month ago, I was torn between writing this and the "1$ Budget" article, and eventually decided to go with the latter, but ultimately, people managed to make me cringe enough that this had to be made as well. Unlike that article, which suggested entirely new decks, this one just suggests techs for existing ones. Again, prices based on Cardmarket.
He was just reprinted for dirt cheap, and he is the perfect initiator for the article. A generic Link 3 that can be ran in any deck for a good targeted shuffle into Deck. Just to be clear: You will not be wasting 3 monsters just going into him. You will pass by him while link-climbing into Link 4.
World Legacy Clash
Anyone reading the garbage opinion that I pass for objective judgment here knows how much I appreciate this thing: It banishes as a cost, it perma-lowers the opponent's monster ATK and it's a quickie.
A series of 2600 ATK/ 200 DEF level 8 monsters that got released over 2020, the "Cataclysmic" can get free-summoned when a monster of their Attribute (Water/Wind/Fire/Earth) is destroyed and trigger an additional effect off that. While I have never bothered with the Wind and Earth ones personally, I genuinely run "Chilbainia" at least X1-2 in most of my Water decks, and "Scorching Sunburner" X3 in one of my Fire ones (though to be honest that's more related to him having 200 DEF than the minor burn).
You need either this or one of its counterparts, and you will run it. Hell, I still run it in bloody rated, in 2021. Either disrupting the opponent's combo by getting rid of field/continuous spells/traps or clearing backrow before attacking, MST or equivalents are almost required to play the game.
2600 ATK, free-Specials himself from the hand if you're playing second and can quickie-turn himself into an one-for-one targeted destruction. Even without sticking to budget limits this guy is perfectly valid.
"Bad Aim" is a perfectly functional, underrated and dirt-cheap card that can be used from roughly the 2nd card the opponent plays in a duel, acting as a perfect disruption. I run it X3 in both my irl and online version of "Altergeists".
More or less goes for all the "Tenyi"s as initiators, but if you're gonna run normal monsters in your Deck like most old-schools do and have no intentions of playing many "Tenyi"s, "Vishuda" is the one to go for. It's a free Special, respectable stats and turns into a "Compulsory" afterwards.
If you're refusing to get on with the times, let the times get on with you. Basically acting as a double "Compulsory" for Extra Deck monsters, "Get Out" is powerful enough to turn around games given the resources the opponent has wasted, or at the very least be a heavy disruption against the opponent. Given it's somewhat situational though, plain old "Compulsory" is also a perfectly valid option. Personally I go from one to the other depending on the meta.
A recent favourite of mine due to the hilarity factor, a random free-summoned 3200 ATK beatstick that will burn for 1600-2400 on average, has been an X1 in quite a few of my decks. Personally I prefer running it on decks that can at least partially support its condition on their own (like "Trickstars") just in case, but even if you have to rely entirely on the opponent for this, it's tons of fun and possibly game-turning.
Possibly the first part of your Link climb, going into "Knightmare Unicorn" or some other Link 3, "Underclock Taker" is a generic Link 2 that will shave decent ATK off an opponent's monster for free. Personally, I usually go first for this, then "Knightmare Phoenix" linked with it, triggering both their effects and getting "Phoenix"'es co-linked draw, and then linking them into "Unchained Abomination".
While I see "Titanocider" as this card's direct and sexier upgrade if you were to compare them on their own, since I've been floodgating about 50-60% of the game with "Imperial Iron Wall" for past 1.5 years, I have learnt to appreciate the merits of "Lost Wind" as well. It's a permanent effect negate and attack nerfer that guarantees the opponent will have to use the monster you just targeted as a material, immediately triggering "Lost Wind"'s reset. With "Imperial"'s lovely help, this thing will be free-triggering every single turn off 1 copy alone.
Just to be clear: I'm not saying he's anywhere near the Ghost Girls' level. He negates way more specific stuff, he's not a Tuner for "Needlefiber" and he can't land you a jail sentence for rule34ing him. That said, he is not terrible. Negating the effects of cards in the GY, for example cards that were just sent to the GY and triggered when they left the field is still very much relevant against a lot of today's decks. He also has more respectable stats on his own, acting as a beatstick if needed.
(and extended with "Danger! Chupacabra") Granted, "Bigfoot" is obviously the better choice as far as standalones go, but "Dogman" is still a very respectable non-targeting -1000 ATK for all the opponent's monsters if he fails and a typical "Danger!" free-summon free-draw if he succeeds. Not to mention he has "Monarch" stats that I'm certain can be somehow abused.
The Entire Paleozoic Archetype
Even by only running one of their cards, "Paleozoic"s' common mechanic of free-resurrecting when a trap is played is a free material provider, and the traps all independently serve their functions as well (for example "Book of Moon"ing an opponent's monster or "MST"ing an opponent's backrow).
While "Forbidden Chalice" is the obvious one to come to mind, personally I find "Forbidden Scripture" far more interesting, and helping deal with some of the worst stuff out there thanks to its non-targeting mass-negate (for example in dealing with "Dragoon"'s 4k ATK or monsters that can't be destroyed by battle). Regardless, all the "Forbidden" Spells are dirt cheap, and can be used either as ATK buffs/debuffs, or as genuine protections for your monsters.
If you saw "Knightmare Unicorn" earlier and were wondering what it would end up to without going above 2 cents for my obvious choice, this is what we're getting at. I run it both IRL and online in "Salamangreats", and it generally does its job well. People generally underestimated both it and my extraordinarily nice Link 4 because 1 to 1 compared to the "Borrels" they're weaker, but that's ignoring the journey. Both this and that other, fastidious and precise card allow you to first pass by a Link 3 on your way to them, unlike the "Borrels" that can at most use a Link 2 without wasting resources for no reason. It will have 3000+ ATK 90% of the time, and a double float following that, while enjoying extremely generic materials.
Well, good job making it this far. Here's the typical wholesomeness:
No comments:
Post a Comment