UniMetagame- The Unique Metagame

Yugioh Price List updated December 4th

2009-12-04T12:42:00.000-08:00

Updated: December 4th

Alphabetical Order

Allure of Darkness = $9
Ally of Justice Catastor = $20
Blackwing Armor Master = $36
Blackwing - Vayu the Emblem of Honor = $35
Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier = $30
Charge of the Light Brigade = $29 (Pre Sale = $6)
Cyber Valley = $9
Dark Armed Dragon(Gold Edition) = $34 (Secret = $54)
Dark End Dragon = $1,149 (2 lots available)
Destiny Draw (DLG Version) = $26
Destiny Hero - Malicious(DLG version) = $23 (DP is basically the same price.)
Doomcaliber Knight (TP version) = $31 (SJC version = $265 with 2 lots available)
Emergency Teleport = $5.50
Honest = $34 (Ghost about the same price.) (Presale = $13)
Judgment Dragon(TP Ultimate) = $71 (Secret = $68)
Mezuki = $30
Mirror Force(DB2) = $29 (GLD1 = $29) (MRD = $30) (DPYG - Duelist pack Yugi version = $30)
Plaguespreader Zombie = $37 (Ultimate version = $39)
Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon(Hopeless Dragon) = $37
Solemn Judgment(DLG) = $11 (Championship pack rare = $10) (DB2 = $11) (GLD = $12) (Metal Raiders = $13)
Tempest Magician = $17 (Pre sell = $4)
Thunder King Rai-Oh = $17
White Night Dragon = $18

1 new cards added: Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier.

3 removed: Crush Card Virus, Dark Bribe, Dark Strike Fighter.

Yugioh Zombie Madness!

2009-11-29T21:53:00.000-08:00

Brand new videos previously mentioned on our Twitter and Youtube Channel. If you didn't find it there, watch it here now:

Zombies v.s Chaos-Teleport

Lightsworn v.s Zombie DAD

Sorry we couldn't upload more this Sunday but these should hold you over til next week. Enjoy the vids and comment on other types of decks you might want to watch.

Stardust Overdrive Survey

2009-11-21T00:37:00.000-08:00

Take the survey Here if you haven't yet. Time to discuss the Survey and some important questions it asked. Also notice it didn't ask any questions about Konami making themes and how the themes seem to be slowly dwindling away. Lets hope Konami leaves the theme making department once and for all.

~~~~~~

Checking Regulations

Questions 7 and 8 were major ones.

7) How many times did you enroll in the Stardust Overdrive Sneak Peek?
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Four times.
More than four times.

8) How much did you pay to enroll in the Stardust Overdrive Sneak Peek?
I paid $20 (U.S.), $25 (Canadian), or the equivalent. Or less.

I paid more than $20 (U.S.), $25 (Canadian), or the equivalent.

In both cases guidelines have been put in place and you can only enter the sneak peak once and get 5 packs of Overdrive. As for charging more, if there is no added benefit or product, then Hobby stores are only supposed to charge $20. Our Hobby store ignored both rules and allowed us to enter as much as we wanted and could afford.

Mine charged 25 dollars to enter the tourney and get your packs. You had to pay 5 dollars more to enter a swiss style tourney and you could use any advanced deck you wanted.

Most of us entered because the prizes were mats, none of which were raffled off.
Anyways my tourney is just another example of a badly regulated event that Konami would not be pleased with. Mats should have been raffled off and the tournament should not have been swiss style with advanced decks.

No one even used the cards they pulled in Stardust overdrive.

Konami really needs to clamp down on their hobby stores so this kind of thing stops but at the end of the day what can they really do?

~~~~~~~~~~

T-shirt and Mat Regulations

Technically they should have been raffled off but again we had no such luck and with question 9 Konami asks us that very question:

9) At the Stardust Overdrive Sneak Peek, what did the store do with the Stardust Overdrive Game Mat and T-Shirt?
They were both given out randomly.
At least one was given to the winner.
They were not given out.
Other (please explain what they did).

~~~~~~~~~

TCG Exclusives

Did we like them or not? Konami asks us on question 12:

12) Which of these Stardust Overdrive world premiere cards are you interested in collecting? (Check all that apply.)
"Koa'ki Meiru Beetle"
"Koa'ki Meiru Maximus"
"Shire, Lightsworn Spirit"
"Rinyan, Lightsworn Rogue"
"Yellow Baboon, Archer of the Forest"
"Gemini Scorpion"
"Metabo-Shark"
"Earthbound Revival"
"Reptilianne Poison"
"Gateway of the Six"
None of them.
I wish I knew more about these cards.

I'm not interested in collecting any of them and most people agree with me there. Really bad exclusives here Konami. Maybe this is because we got such nice cards in Hidden Arsenal. Either way I'm not complaining too much. Hidden arsenal makes up for these TCG exclusives.

~~~~~~~~~

Final Thoughts

That was basically the survey and as mentioned before there was no mention of the theme problems we had before.

With Hidden arsenal being released and with the ability to get 4 holos and a secret per pack, I gladly forgive any mistakes Stardust Overdrive might have had.

Brionac and Catastor more than made up for it and getting all those holo's, a lot which are good or have potential, was amazing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just a quick side note for the community. If anyone knows the answer to this question, please post it in the comments. Basically is the Konami Judging Guidelines posted yet and if not what rules should Judges go by when it comes to penalties and play in general?

Thanks for taking the time to read this and look forward to Sunday when we should have more videos for you on our Youtube channel. Follow us on twitter and we'll update you the minute we start uploading. Take care til next time!

Lightsworn v.s Traditional Deck

2009-11-16T23:55:00.000-08:00

Brand new videos previously mentioned on our Twitter and Youtube Channel. If you didn't find it there, watch it here now:

Lightsworn v.s Traditional Deck

The above video already received 568 views after being up for only 1 day. Not only that but it got that many views without a mention of it here on our front page; so thanks again to everyone that is subscribed to us on Youtube and following us on Twitter.

We got a viewer request for another Cloudian video in the future, so look for that later this weekend. If you have your own requests, just mention it here in the comments or on youtube so UniMetagame can give you the videos you want to watch the most. Until next time, Enjoy the vids.

Hidden Arsenal unboxing Videos

2009-11-10T22:09:00.000-08:00

Brand new videos previously mentioned on our Twitter and Youtube Channel. If you didn't find it there, watch it here now:

Hidden Arsenal Unboxing

(Parts 1-5)

Enjoy the videos and let me know what you think of them in the comments here and on youtube.

Hidden Arsenal Pull rates and Prices

2009-11-09T17:50:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update because there has been a rush of information requested about this box that is unprecedented for most previous releases.

Here is the main info: Basically you want 1 of 3 available cards; also known as the "Big 3".

Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

Ally of Justice Catastor

Mist Wurm

Ratios

If you buy a box your chances of getting these "Big 3" is usually 1 of each and sometimes an extra big 3 card.

So most likely your box will contain atleast: 1 Brionac, 1 Catastor, and 1 Mist Wurm.
Some boxes come with an extra of the big 3. The VAST majority of the boxes will NOT have any more than that. So if you're planning on having two sets then I'm sorry but that isn't the reality being seen by most box reports.

Here are 2 box openings for you to enjoy:

Prices

Packs: Most places should and will sell it for $4. It could go as high as $10 a pack. Please do not buy it for that much though, unless you have cash that you're willing and able to part with.

The release date is still technically November 10th but as you can tell, Wal-Mart and a number of other places are selling it today.

Boxes: Boxes are selling on Ebay right now for $90 including shipping.

There are 37 boxes for sale right now, ready to ship, at this BUY IT NOW lot.

DO NOT pay more than that; there is absolutely no need to. The person selling on that lot is a VERY trusted seller and has the items IN HAND, ready to ship right away.

The seller above is even offering discounts if you can buy multiple boxes. So if you're going to buy 2 or 3, you might be able to get it a little less than 90 bucks a pop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hopefully that answers the questions that have been floating about. If you have any more you can always leave them in the comments and someone will reply back right away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

UPDATE 11/10/09:

Card Prices

In case people were curious, the past few days Brionac was going for $40. Now that it has been mass released on the 10th and we all have plenty of boxes the price is around $30.

As for Catastor, that is also around $30, yet a dollar or two usually lower than Brionac.
Mist wurm is a solid $15.

Expect Brionac to settle around 25 or 20 and Catastor to be a few bucks shorter.
Mist wurm will stay at it's 15 dollar foothold.

Cloudians, Koa'ki Meiru, and a Traditional Deck; Plus a Yata.

2009-11-08T22:31:00.000-08:00

Brand new videos previously mentioned on our Twitter and Youtube Channel. If you didn't find it there, watch it here now:

Koa'ki Meiru v.s Cloudian Control Deck (2nd place at SD Regional)

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Traditional Deck v.s Koa'ki Meiru Deck

Yata - Bird is the Word

Yugioh Konami Judge Program Certification

2009-11-07T00:01:00.000-08:00

(Konami Judge tests are finally up. Keep reading to learn more)

Welcome to the KDE Judge Program!

Our goal is to provide support and guidance for our judges, encourage them to improve their skills and knowledge, offer certification testing to recognize their efforts and accomplishments.

We will be adding to this section as the program progresses, so please rely on this page for updates to our program.

Certification Testing

By passing certification tests, a judge can evaluate his or her knowledge of the various aspects of judging.
All active judges are encouraged to actively pursue Judge Certification.

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE TESTS

Rulings Comprehension – Level 1 (English)

You will need to carefully study the Official Rulebook, know the basic mechanics of the game, and pay attention to the card texts presented to you in order to pass this test and function effectively as a judge.

You can find a copy of the rulebook here.

Additional tests will be added for you, once the information you’ll need to prepare for each test is completed and made available. There will be constant room for growth and study, so judges can expect to spend some time progressing through different levels of the certification process.

If you would like to take a test, click on the appropriate link below to go to the test page. Please be aware that:

Judge Certification is available only to persons aged 16 and older.
You will need a valid COSSY ID number and a valid email address, in order for your certification to be confirmed. If you do not have a COSSY ID number, you can obtain one at a KDE Official Tournament Store.
You must score 80% or more to pass.
You may take the test more than once, if you do not pass on your first attempt.
Test candidates should avoid discussing the questions and answers with other people.

Once you have completed the test and submitted your answers, you will receive your score immediately from the test page, so you will know right away if you have passed the test.

Within a few weeks after your test, you will receive an email congratulating you on your new certification, which will also tell you how you can become more involved in KDE’s Judge Program.

Thank you for your interest in becoming a member of the KDE Judge Program – we look forward to working with you!

Source

3 New Videos Up - Pile Shuffling and Complete Domination

2009-10-31T17:54:00.000-07:00

Brand new videos previously mentioned on our Twitter and Youtube Channel. If you didn't find it there, watch it here now:

Greatest Pile Shuffer

Lightsworn v.s Blackwings - Complete Domination

Keep watching our Twitter and Youtube channels as we send out more updates like this one.

Titans of Konami Video (Lightsworn v.s Blackwings)

2009-10-25T17:28:00.000-07:00

Brand new video previously mentioned on our Twitter and Youtube Channel. If you didn't find it there, watch it here now:

Titans of Konami

Btw, this video received 584 views before it hit the front page of this site.
That means we're getting a lot of traffic to the twitter and youtube pages and people are finding the videos very quickly.

Just a heads up and a thanks to our community who are keeping in touch with our twitter and youtube pages; thanks for that. :)

Keep watching our Twitter and Youtube channels as we send out more updates like this one.

Frog Deck Onslaught

2009-10-18T20:11:00.000-07:00

Brand new video just mentioned on our Twitter or Youtube Channel. You can still see the new Youtube videos here:

Frog Onslaught

Keep watching our Twitter and Youtube channels for updates like this one.

Yugioh Price List updated October 18th

2009-10-18T11:50:00.000-07:00

Another re-posting of the price list. Hopefully everyone is enjoying the money graphic at the right that links to the whole price list. It's also hovering above. ^

Lets get to the list:

Updated: October 18th

Alphabetical Order

Allure of Darkness = $10
Ally of Justice Catastor = $103 (Hidden Arsenal Pre sale = $52.50)
Blackwing Armor Master = $38
Blackwing - Vayu the Emblem of Honor = $40
Charge of the Light Brigade = $44 (Pre Sale = $15)
Crush Card Virus = $42.50 (Tournament pack = $7) (Price keeps tanking just as predicted. Give it another month or two and the gold will be no more than 20 and the TP should be no more than 3 bucks.)
Cyber Valley = $10
Dark Armed Dragon = $32
Dark Bribe = $17
Dark End Dragon = (No lots available)
Dark Strike Fighter = $7.50
Destiny Draw (DLG Version) = $35 (DP = $34)
Destiny Hero - Malicious(DLG version) = $24 (DP is basically the same price.)
Doomcaliber Knight (TP version) = $40 (SJC version = $302 with 2 lots available)
Emergency Teleport = $5.50
Honest = $42 (Ghost about the same price. Finally Honest's price drops a bit, even thought we've known for a long while about the twilight product that gives him out for free.)
Judgment Dragon(TP Ultimate) = $78 (Secret = $73.50) (Wow judgment's price dropped like a tank. Maybe the demand for the card just dried up. Or the supply from the tournament packs over supplied the market and forced both prices down. Or both.)
Mezuki = $25
Mirror Force(DB2) = $42 (MRD = $30) (DPYG - Duelist pack Yugi version = $28) (GLD1 = $40)
Plaguespreader Zombie = $36 (Ultimate version = $42) Both prices stable now. Ultimate is not longer drastically less than the regular version.
Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon(Hopeless Dragon) = $31.50 (Price Jump maintained. Guess there is just a ton of demand or a lack of supply, or both, for this card.
Solemn Judgment(DLG) = $9 (GLD = $12) (DB2 = $12) (Championship pack rare = $12) (Metal Raiders = $12)
Tempest Magician = $20 (Pre sell = $7)
Thunder King Rai-Oh = $21.50
White Night Dragon = $1

0 new cards added.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Notable Mentions

1) Thunder King Rai Oh's price has been steadily climbing for a long while now.
2) Hopeless dragon is holding it's higher price.
3) Mirror force is a lot harder to get.
4) Judgment dragon tanked in price.
5) All 3 VERY EXPENSIVE Dark end dragon lots ended up selling.
6) Allure is steadily increasing in price from it's low of 5 to it's high of 10, since the reprinting.
7) Gangster chicken (Vayu) is solid at it's 40 dollar price range.

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Full Price list and Details

The full price list goes back to March 9th and has updates every 2 weeks or so til now.
It lets you track a cards price because it archives old prices and it's updated frequently so you never loose track of what a card is worth. That's very important for buyers and sellers and it's especially important for regular duelists when trading.

As for the details of the list such as when we update it and how we determine the prices; they are all listed on that page.

The list's details are re-listed here for convenience:

How Prices are calculated:

We look at ebay's Buy it nows specifically.

After searching for the particular card, we sort the list by lowest price, including shipping, and then we have our price!

Prices are rounded to the closest $0.50 or whole number.
We check every ebay listing to see the sellers rating and to double check if it's a gamble (dice game, random lot, etc.) If the ebay rating is less than 20, we disregard it and we obviously disregard price if it's a random lot(might not receive the item).

To see examples of random lots, check Crush Card Virus on Ebay. There are always sellers underpricing the actual card who sell for the chance to get a crush card without actually delivering.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Updates

We'll try to keep this list updated and there will be a corresponding date at the top that shows when this list was last updated.

Since prices won't change too much you should see an update bi-weekly or monthly at the very least.

If you want other cards added to the list, suggest them in the comments below.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

New Update - Card Quality

With the selling of massive amounts of bad or poor conditioned cards UniMetagame will adopt this policy:

It will ignore all lots for cards that are not in Good condition or better. If a card is said to be damaged or scratched noticably, it's lot will be ignored and we will go to the next lowest ebay lot.

Example: There were 2 lots by the same seller for a Crush Card virus. One was labeled as played or as they put it "Played (P): Can have a crease that is no more than half the card. Will have scratches. If card has small water damage it will be P. Card will definitely still be playable in sleeves. Card has been played with."

That was completely unacceptable so we went to the next lowest which happened to be by the same seller and it was described as excellent condition, which they said was, "Very Slight Scratches or minor imperfections around the corners." That we deemed was acceptable and so we choose to price Crush card at that new lots price.

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Community thanks and Future articles

Thanks to all our new subscribers on our Youtube channel as well as our new followers on our Twitter. Definitely check them out if you haven't seen them yet.

Look forward to these future articles:

1) Full review of Stardust Overdrive
2) YVD Tutorial explanation
3) Poll analysis
4) Updated Black list/ Support list

They will come out in no particular order and we'll get them out to you over the next few weeks.
Also is anyone else looking forward to Brionac in the hidden arsenal pack? It's almost time for his grand entrance. :D

UniMetagame's first 2 Youtube Videos

2009-10-15T22:43:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't already seen this on our Twitter or Youtube Channel, you can still see the new Youtube videos here:

Local Tourney Lightsworns Locked down by Diffy and Gadgets

Part 1

Part 2

Keep watching our Twitter and Youtube channels for updates like this one.
Enjoy the videos; more to come this weekend!

Which Cards would you Ban Poll Results - Metagame Update - Ban List Update

2009-09-24T17:56:00.000-07:00

(Anther Great Metagame, Konami reigns in the heat to let us play on a leveled playing field. If you're a player of skill you just received an early birthday gift.)

Fire days allow us west coasters to actually get a break from the hectic beat of the world. There are still snow days all around California, and even Southern Cali, but they're impossible in my particular neck of the woods.

Regardless a huge update had to come sooner and later, especially after a ban list. Lets get to the results:

Which of the following cards would you ban?
Monster Reborn

80 (11%)

Crush Card Virus

201 (27%)

Judgment Dragon

196 (27%)

Charge of the Light Brigade

88 (12%)

Heavy Storm

44 (6%)

Dark Armed Dragon

91 (12%)

Mirror force

44 (6%)

Brain Control

65 (8%)

Torrential Tribute

35 (4%)

Blackwing Armor Master

65 (8%)

Rescue Cat

161 (22%)

Test Tiger

71 (9%)

Solemn Judgment

81 (11%)

Dark Strike Fighter

317 (43%)

None of the Above

87 (12%)

Votes so far: 723
Poll closed

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ranked

1) Dark Strike ~ 43%
2) Crush Card Virus ~ 27%
3) Judgment Dragon ~ 27%
4) Rescue Cat ~ 22%
5) Dark Armed Dragon ~ 12%
6) Charge of the Light Brigade ~ 12%
7) None of the Above ~ 12% ***********
8) Solemn Judgment ~ 11%
9) Monster Reborn ~ 11%
10) Test Tiger ~ 9%
11) Blackwing Armor Master ~ 8%
12) Brain Control ~ 8%
13) Heavy Storm ~ 6%
14) Mirror Force ~ 6%
15) Torrential Tribute ~ 4%

Red= Banned
Blue= Limited
Green = Anomaly
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ban List v.s Poll

So how did our poll fare against the actual ban list? The most significant items of interest were indeed banned. Dark strike and Crush it seemed could not survive in our new era and as a result were kicked to the curb.

The limited cards a bit more interesting though. You'd expect them to be right after the cards that were banned but that trend isn't exactly as it should be.

4 things remained sandwiched in between the cards that were limited and they were:

1) Judgment Dragon
2) Dark Armed Dragon
3) Charge of the Light brigade
4) No changes to the list

None of the above choices were taken into effect by Konami and each deserves it's own section of analysis.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Judgment Dragon & Charge of the Light Brigade

Judgment dragon, logically looking from the poll should have been banned or limited at the very least. Yet what did Konami end up doing? For the second Ban list in a row lightsworn was unaffected.

So what were the effects of that back in March? Were lightsworn on top, was UniMetagame's Analysis wrong? No, as predicted, Lightsworn was too inconsistent to win any SJC and frequently got out topped by Rescue cat, glads, and Blackwings.

The same pattern emerges now. Again Lightsworn is not on top, and still Lightsworn is too inconsistent to win an SJC. Since the Sneak peak, til now, no one has gotten higher than 3rd place at our local Tournies and played Lightsworn.

After the sneak and before the ban list you could blame that on Gottoms and being able to play 3 rescue cat's and 3 one for one's. But since then, til basically the end of this month, there is no scapegoat. Who do we blame for the lack of Lightsworn at the top? What do we blame? It's inconsistency, plain and simple, and we have enough data by now to stop the bickering.

Regardless off all of this though, the reason why lightsworn got polled as the most hated deck in the game by 2 different sites and over 750 votes, and the reason why Lightsworn's Judgment Dragon is continuosly attacked is for one reason:

They explode too unfairly and Luck sack more consistently than any other deck alive.

It has been that way for more than a year and while Konami understand that we hate OTK decks, they do not understand that we hate Luck sacking even more.

To play every single turn right, and watch your opponent make mistake after mistake and still coming out the victor because of 1 or 2 cards, is completely unjust and takes a huge portion of fun out of the game.

Konami needs to deal with this right away or by the next ban list, all the people who complained will be gone instead of just annoyed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dark Armed Dragon

This becomes more of an opinionated call really. Is it just too powerful to counter against or is it too hard to bring out, and draw, to worry about? Honestly I can't speak for everyone but Dark Armed Dragon doesn't lose me games.

If you go into a game without a way to deal with cards like Dark Armed, then you probably won't do very well anyways. No one can probably say that their deck is well suited against every other deck and yet for some reason it can't handle Dark Armed.

Dark armed isn't that special and the way you deal with it is about the same as a lot of cards. Also Dark armed punishes players for not playing chainable traps.

My personal verdict, at 1, it's an annoyance but you should be able to take it down pretty quickly. There's always one pesky and strong monster in a particular type of deck and for most dark decks that ends up being Dark Armed. There is one last note though, and that has to do with the future and with Dark Simorgh. If Dark armed in the future is too easily comboed with another deck, possibly a Dark Simorgh one, then it will have a reason to be banned because it's ability to come out would be too easy. As long as it remains challenging to bring out, it should remain in play.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nothing Banned on the List

What can I say about these players who voted that way. What can I say to the players that consider Dark Strike and 3 Rescue cats a good thing? What can I say to the people begging Konami to allow broken decks to rule the land?

Honestly what can we do with players who don't care about Yugioh and only care about winning.

What should we as a community do with the players who are too lazy to try and win on their own and would rather broken decks live so they can luck their way to glory?

To such players I ask: Do you want a horrible game? Do you want it unbalanced? Do you want it completely luck based? Are you scared of skill? Do you have any skill? Is that why you rely so much on luck?

According to the poll these leeches made up about 12% of the voters. These lazy, skilless, lifeless leeches who want nothing to do with the game and care only about winning, were a very strong base.

Now this isn't intended at anyone who likes to win, but for those who would keep Dark strike alive and keep Rescue cat at 3, something the VAST majority of the community disagrees with. Why do they disagree, because they want a balanced game.

Most of the community wants:

1) Skill
2) Patience
3) Actual Deck Building
4) Fun
5) Originality

The Majority of the community is strongly in favor of the above 5 tenants. The problem is we still have the 12% of leeches who want to chip away at the others. These leeches also were the loudest heard in the past. Luckily Konami doesn't pay much attention to such foolish people and the ban list was much more balanced than said leeches would have liked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Ban List and Brain Control

The last significant topics remaining are the overall view of the new ban list and Brain control.

Brain control probably wasn't banned because there isn't enough information about why it should be banned in the first place. If the vast majority of the yugioh community knew and read about it's power, by now it would be banned. Hopefully this will occur by the next ban list but no one can say for sure if it will happen.

For analysis as to why Brain control should be banned and to help the community trend in that direction check out one of our recent articles dedicated to this topic.

The Ban list though gets a very strong grade.
The most significant positives included:

1) Solemn at 1
2) Mind control at 1
3) Monster reborn banned
4) Rescue cat totally annihilated
5) Card of Safe gone
6) Chaos Sorcerer at 2

The only critique really that can be given is that D Draw probably shouldn't have hit 3 and Brain control definitely should not have been allowed to stick around.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

New Poll

A new poll has now graced the front page of the site. It will run for at least a week and depending on the voting result it'll either continue to run for another week or a new poll will be put up.

It says:

How do you feel about Konami's themed decks? (Gladiator beasts, Lightsworn, Blackwings)

1) Do away with the powerful, unoriginal, pre-built, easy to play decks.
2) Keep them coming in the new packs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Final Thoughts - An ode to Zombie players

As a final note, and to all zombie players, I'm glad Mezuki is back at 3 so zombie players have false hope that they can actually win an SJC this cycle.

Originality has been removed from zombies for years and there should be some punishment for being a zombie player in one of the most original meta's we've ever had.

That punishment is manifested in the false hope of 3 mezuki's actually beating the rest of the community. Enjoy your hope and maybe by the next ban list those zombie players will finally change to something more original and slightly fun.

This is Yugioh, you play to have fun. Most players don't play zombies to have fun; most players play zombies to win.

In this Meta, they'll do neither.

Hopeless Dragon

2009-09-21T23:56:00.000-07:00

Well, here's a new concept I want to try : a massive brainstorming around a particular deck, card, or combo anyone would want to work on. And the first candidate for this will be a deck : Hopeless Dragon (Dragon of Despair for the purists).

What's Hopeless Dragon ?

This deck is build around Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon's ability to Special Summon Dragon-type monsters from the hand or Graveyard, in order to make it build a large army of high-ATK Dragons, who will crush opponent's monsters and Life Points. This deck can have some OTK tendencies, due to the sheer number of high ATK monsters that can be brought at once, but usually is considered a Beatdown deck.

What are the main cards in it ?

Here's what I think they are :

Monsters :

Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon (The main monster, whose effect allows to use and reuse Dragon-type monsters' effects, or to just bring back destroyed attackers. A must-be at 3)
Red-Eyes Wyvern (The main supporter, whose effect allows REDMD to come back at the cost of your Normal Summon. Can be played at 2 or 3, depending of the deck)
High ATK monsters (The three main ones used being Dark Horus, White Night Dragon and Blue-Eyes White Dragon)

Spells and Traps :

Future Fusion (while at 1, this card can bump multiple copies of REDMD and Red-Eyes Wyvern in your Graveyard, thus allowing you to use Wyvern's effects and to bring back at least two REDMD)
As much draw power as possible, to fasten the deck (Reckless Greed, Morphing Jar, usually Trade-In and Advance Draw, and sometimes Allure of Darkness, depending of the version)

Now, here's what I suggest to add to enhance the deck :
- Cards that will enhance REDMD's effect usage
- Cards that will protect REDMD
- Cards that will be aimed with REDMD's effect
- Cards that counter the cost of other main cards (mainly Allure and Wyvern's RFG)
- Staples and cards that fit the deck

Cards that will enhance REDMD's effect usage :

- Phantom of Chaos. This card, well used, will allow you to RFG REDMD in order to use its effect one more turn. That means a Special Summon this turn, maybe the one needed to strike for game, but that also means that REDMD will be accessible to D.D.R.. Its effects make it especially interesting in mid or late game, when any big hit means game.
- Any card that can bring it on the field. That means the D.D.R previously quoted, but also cards like Call of the Haunted, Decoy Dragon, or any Dragon-type monster that will be removed for its Special Summon.

Cards that will protect REDMD :

- Prime Material Dragon. This 2400 ATK Dragon has some interesting effects. The first one guarantee the player to be safe from any Dark Strike Fighter as long as PMD is on the field, while the second enhances that survivability, at the cost of cards from your hand.
- King Dragun. Another 2400 ATK Dragon, whose effect will protect REDMD way better, but whose summoning is harder, due to its Fusion Monster status. But it's second effect, who allows you to play it as a pseudo-second REDMD, can be worth the trouble.
- Deck Devastation Virus and Epidemic Eradicator Virus. These two cards, whose requirements are easily brought on the field by REDMD, will destroy what will cause you the most problems on the opponent's field : Low ATK monsters (that means Blackwings and Rescue Synchro players will take a big hit) and Spells/Traps. And whichever is destroyed won't hurt you later.

Cards that will be aimed by REDMD's effect :

- Exploder Dragon. This little Dragon can (and will) destroy any stronger monster that destroys it in battle. And if you engage the opponent, neither of you will be hurt from Exploder's battle, which is always a plus, considering its 1000 ATK.
- Magna Drago and Debris Dragon. Both of them are Tuners, thus enabling Synchro Summons in your deck. Debris works better with Level 2-3-6 monsters, while Magna is better with Level 4-5-6-8 ones. It's up to you to see who will be better on your deck.
- Masked Dragon. It can search any of the two previously quoted monsters, as well as many others, and its effect give you some resistance to attacks, as well as another monster to RFG for REDMD's Special Summon.

Cards that counter the cost of the main cards :

- D.D.R. - Dance Dance Revolution (pun intended). This card will allow you to bring back any monster removed from game, be it by Wyvern's effect, Allure's effect, or the occasionnal Phantom of Chaos / Dragon's Mirror / Dark Armed Dragon's effect. In addition, the cost may be helpful for REDMD.
- Burial from a Different Dimension. Like D.D.R., this card will allow you to bring back from the RFG zone any card sent here by one of the many RFG effects you play. Depending of the situation, it's even better than D.D.R.
- The Transmigration Prophecy. It somehow works the same way than Burial, but it can also counter any card played by the opponent which affects any Graveyard.

Staples and cards that fit to the deck :

- Monster Reborn. With many monsters in the Graveyard, it's always good to bring one of them back at no cost, or to punish any player for over-extending.
- Heavy Storm/Giant Turnade/Cold Wave. It's always good to free the S/T field before any big onslaught, and those cards help in that aspect, forcing players to shield themselves when not necessary.
- Torrential Tribute. A good way to clean the monsters' field before any massive Special Summoning.
- Dark Armed Dragon. With REDMD controlling the Graveyard, he's that easy to summon, and its effect allows destruction at nearly no cost.
- Koa'ki Meiru Drago. While its effect contradicts REDMD's and some Dragons called by it, this monster can give you a huge advantage against nearly every top tier deck. Combined with the Imprisoning Mirrors (The Light one for Lightsworns, the Dark one for Blackwings and Gladiator Beasts), it's deadly, but needs to be played carefully, in order to not stuck yourself.

The variants :

If you read well the beginning of my explaination, I said there were three big monsters that were usually played in Hopeless Dragon. Each of these three lead to different decks I'll talk here :

Dark Horus :

We'll begin with the firstly, and mostly used one. Dark Horus is a Level 8 Dark Dragon with high ATK (3000, the same as White Night Dragon and Blue-Eyes White Dragon), and is able, when the opponent plays a Spell card, to Special Summon a Level 4 Dark monster from the Graveyard.

This kind of deck will usually have :
- Reckless Greed, Trade-In, Allure of Darkness, and sometimes Advance Draw as main draw power.
- Level 4 Dark monsters in order to use Dark Horus' effect. Some of them are Dragons, in order to be used both by Dark Horus and REDMD.
- Dark Armed Dragon.
- Sometimes, Deck Devastation Virus and Epidemic Eradicator Virus, as Dark Horus itself is a good target for both cards.
- No, or nearly no access to Synchro monsters.

White Night Dragon :

Now is the most recent and, in my opinion, interesting one. White Night Dragon is a Level 8 Water Dragon with the added effects of negating Spells and Traps aiming it, and redirecting attacks sent at other monsters to it.

This kind of deck will usually have :
- Reckless Greed, Trade-In and Advance Draw as main draw power.
- Dragons with disruptive (Koa'ki Meiru Drago, Blizzard Dragon), protective (King Dragun, Prime Material Dragon) or recursive (Masked Dragon, Troop Dragon, Totem Dragon) effects.
- Few supports, outside of the staples, but a good access to Synchro monsters (Debris Dragon, Magna Drago)

Blue-Eyes White Dragon :

We'll end with the, in many players' opinions, most fiable one. Blue-Eyes Dragon is, like everyone knows, a Level 8 Light Dragon with no effects.

This kind of deck will usually have :
- Reckless Greed, Trade-In, Advance Draw and White Stone of Legend as main draw power.
- Blue-Eyes support (mainly White Stone of Legend, but sometimes the occasionnal Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon)
- Light Support (Beckoning Light, Honest)
- Weak Synchro support (due to White Stone of Legend being a Tuna... Err, a Tuner)

My point of view about the deck :

For the moment, it's a deck that isn't complete. We have the base (REDMD, Wyvern, Future Fusion, Draw power), but that's all. That makes many variants of this deck very unstable, as cards added by most players work with that base, but don't work between themselves, and I think that, if we want to improve the deck, we need to improve the links between the cards that we'll want to add to the deck.

Now, I'm looking for your advices, comments and such.

-Izual (Nickname on UniMetagame Forums)
UniMetagame Syndicated Writer

Stardust Overdrive - OCG Exclusives

2009-09-13T04:36:00.000-07:00

Well, everyone knows what's in the 80-cards OCG Stardust Overdrive, but we're still in the dark concerning the 20 promo cards (remember, 10 OCG reprints and 10 TCG exclusives).

The good news is that three OCG reprints have been announced. And it's not small things :

Guardian Eatos - Wind / Fairy / Effect / Level 8 / 2500 ATK / 2000 DEF
If you have no monsters in your Graveyard, you can Special Summon this card from your hand. By sending 1 Equip Magic Card equipped to this card to the Graveyard, select up to 3 monsters in your opponent's Graveyard and remove them from play. For each monster removed from play by this effect, this card gains 500 ATK until the End Phase.

Clear World - Field Spell Card
The controller of this card has to pay 500 Life Points during each of his End Phases, or this card is destroyed. The following effects are applied to each player, according to the Attributes they control :
Light : Play with your hand revealed
Dark : If you control 2 or more monsters, you cannot declare an attack
Earth : Destroy 1 face-up Defense Position monster you control during your Standby Phase
Water : Discard 1 card from your hand during your End Phase
Fire : You take 1000 damage during your End Phase
Wind : You cannot activate a Spell card unless you pay 500 Life Points.

...And the best at the end :

Dark Simurgh - Dark / Winged-Beast / Effect / Level 7 / 2700 ATK / 1000 DEF
This card's Attribute is also treated as "Wind". By removing from play from your Graveyard 1 Dark monster and 1 Wind monster, you can Special Summon this card from your hand. By removing from play from your hand 1 Dark monster and 1 Wind monster, you can Special Summon this card from your Graveyard. While you control this face-up card, your opponent cannot set cards.

-Izual (Nickname on UniMetagame Forums)
UniMetagame Syndicated Writer

Hidden Arsenal - U.S Duel Terminal Pack

2009-09-13T04:29:00.001-07:00

FOR PRICE AND PULL RATIO INFORMATION CLICK HERE

~~~~~

Guess what ? We'll finally get our hands on Duel Terminal cards!

Hidden Arsenal is a set comprising 30 cards from Duel Terminal. In every pack will be one Secret Rare and four Super Rares, and each card will have a LE on them.

Cards announced are:
X-Sabers (don't know which ones)
Flamvells (don't know which ones)
Mist Valley monsters (don't know which ones)
Wurms (only confirmed is Mist Wurm)
Ice Barrier monsters (only confirmed is... Yeah, you guessed right, Brionac) *source

US release is for the 10th November, while our Europe comrades will get them five days earlier.

-Izual (Nickname on UniMetagame Forums)
UniMetagame Syndicated Writer

Ancient Prophecy Sneak Peak - Konami Survey

2009-09-03T18:12:00.002-07:00

(Click on the pictures to enlarge them)

Time for another survey and this one will be just as interesting as the last because Konami starts cracking down on the pack selling.

Click this link to take the survey if you haven't. As mentioned before, if you don't provide input you don't deserve to complain about the state of the game.

You do your part and Konami can do theirs. If they fail at least you can say you tried to change things.

~~~~~~~~~

Key Points

1) Having the sneak peaks at hobby league stores.

I mentioned this in my last survey article and my feelings hold true since then.

Almost everyone I've spoken to continues to support the sneak peaks at hobby league stores.

Having them at the stores:
* 1) Saves time driving to the convention center
* 2) Makes for a quicker tournament that doesn't take up your whole day
* 3) Allows considerably more people to participate who were unwilling or unable to go to the large convention centers.
* 4) No waiting in long lines for long periods of time.

There are a few downsides as well
* 1) Unable to meet as many new people and duel new opponents
* 2) Unable to trade with as many people
* 3) Considerably increases the risk of store owners selling packs before their release. (Nearly unheard of when convention centers were in charge)

Overall it's a good thing and the sneaks should stay at hobby league stores.

2) Corruption

The next 3 questions all had the aspect of corruption in them.
Most players will probably tell the truth about their experiences at the sneak peaks and will definitely complain if they paid too much.

Konami is counting on just that kind of enthusiasm to sample how much corruption is currently going on at the hobby league stores.

It's definitely a new problem they didn't face at the convention centers but it's a big problem nonetheless.

There is also a way to get around the corruption that Konami will probably never be able to fix.
It's something that even convention centers won't totally cure and it was a huge problem at my tourney for our sneak peaks.

Basically people would pay other people to enter, allow them to play with their cards, but ask them to hand over everything they pulled and their potential winnings to the person who paid for it all.

You basically can get as many packs as you want simply by having other people enter with your money.

This way, the hobby league is safe, the person paying for the packs is safe, and the person getting the packs is safe.

I don't know what Konami intends to do about that problem but using the above method and going to a few local sneak peaks allows you to get a full set of any card you want in the new set and at a very cheap price.

Because of said phenomena cards have been getting easier to get before their mass release and people have been abusing the new cards at a much more uneven scale than they should be able to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

3) TCG exclusives (World Premiere Cards)

Konami shows off it's list of the 10 new TCG exclusives it made and asks which of the 10 is our favorite.

I wasn't too thrilled about any of them but I liked Greed Grado just because it might have the potential to be the next broken card in our game. Pot of Greed is hands down the best card in the game and Greedo Grado suctions off that power, while limiting it a bit to keep it from being as broken.

It's an interesting card to think about and it being a secret makes it a harder card to get than some of the other TCG exclusives.

~~~~~~~~~~

4) Theme Crazy again

My comments on this topic again, as posted in my last 2 Konami survey articles:

I absolutely hate Konami's themes.

I feel these themes:
* 1) Enable lazy players
* 2) Make deck choices a lot easier
* 3) Create a child mentality where the Game owners literally walk you into your own metagame and set you up with a deck. (Thanks Mom and Dad....)
* 4) Create a lack of creativity and originality
* 5) Make combos with older cards harder to do or impossible all together
* 6) Make the older cards of less and less value, causing the card game to loose integrity.

I LOVE cards like Honest that have effects that apply to OLDER cards and more general themes. Honest lets you use all Light monsters for his effect, unlike Judgment Dragon.

The Attribute and Type themes are good enough and they allow for originality.
They allow for brand new combos and are the KEYS that OPEN THE DOORS for originality and creativity.

But when Konami starts making specific themes for decks, it completely dilutes the Metagame.
Older cards can no longer be comboed as well with these new cards and the new cards are too easily comboed with one another.

These themes have to go, they ruin the Yugioh Metagame, and belittle the Yugioh player base.
We can be original, we can innovate, and we don't need Konami to hold our hands, especially now that Metagame.com and it's notorious Tournament reports / deck lists are gone.

I don't see how we can be creative if a theme is created and we're barely able to combo any of the new cards with the old ones.

I want to add one last thing to this theme topic.
If we assume that Konami is set in their ways when it comes to using themes and if we also assume that they are fully planned to keep rolling out themes than we have to ask ourselves:

1) Why have they asked us about these themes for 3 surveys?
2) Why does the yugioh community continue to complain about these themes?
3) Why would they question a directive of theirs that they do not plan on changing?
4) Why would they upset their future plans if indeed they plan to roll out themes anyways?

After asking the above questions it seems more clear that Konami might actually be Rolling BACK some of it's themes and asking this question over and over again might be the excuse they need to stop using these themes.

The senior executives might finally have heard some of the cries of the lowly yugioh player base and as a result, and the findings of 3 surveys, they might indeed decide to stop using these themes.

The more they ask this question the more it shows how insecure they are. If they truly were secure and confident about these themes then why do they keep asking us if we like them?

The truth of the matter is, they probably already know our response, and are now working to create a path away from these themes and these surveys are helping to provide proof for this new path.

I doubt we'll keep seeing this question in future survey's if they have no intention at all of changing the status quo. So in essence we have some hope and good news ahead of us, at least when it comes to these awful themes.

Again don't forget to take the survey if you haven't already. We need to do everything in our power to get our voices heard, regardless of how small the actions may appear at the outset.

Absolute Powerforce

2009-08-21T00:33:00.000-07:00

(Absolute Powerforce unleashes this nearly impossible to summon beast. If you can get it out though, you'll only have one turn to use it's power. Don't worry, that's all you'll need)

Details

TCG Release Date (North America): February-March 2010

OCG Release Date: November 14th, 2009

Includes 80 cards:

1 Holographic Rare
5 Ultimate Rares
5 Ultra Rares
9 Super Rares
18 Rares
48 Commons

Source

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Savior Demon Dragon

So far only 1 card is confirmed for this set and it's the card in the picture above.

It's effect is:

"Salvation Dragon - Savior Dragon" + "Red Dragon Archfiend" + 1 non-Tuner monster

Once per turn, negate the effect(s) of 1 face-up monster your opponent controls until the End Phase. This card gains ATK equal to that monster's ATK. When an opponent's card's effect that would destroy this card is activated, negate it and destroy it. Then, inflict damage to your opponent equal to the ATK of this card. When this card attacks, destroy all Defense Position monsters on the field after the Damage Step. Return this card to the Extra Deck during the End Phase, and Special Summon 1 "Red Dragon Archfiend" from your Graveyard.

~~~~~~~~~

Final thoughts

We'll keep you updated on the latest happenings with this set, but keep a close look out for Stardust overdrive as well.

That's the set before this one and we'll be able to open that one a lot sooner. Regardless though it's always fun looking far into the future and glimpsing at cards we know will be a long ways away.

For up to date information you can also check out our Forums, which will have the latest info on Absolute Powerforce.

White Night Dragon

2009-08-19T00:07:00.000-07:00

Stats of the card :

Type : Dragon
Attribute : Water
Level : 8
ATK : 3000
DEF : 2500
Effect : Negate the activation of any Spell or Trap that targets this card, and destroy that card. When a face-up monster you control is selected as an attack target, you can send 1 Spell or Trap Card you control to the Graveyard to change the target to this card.

Where to play this card :

Obviously, any deck that can Special Summon it will welcome it hands down. My preference will go to Dragon decks, due to Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, King Dragun and Decoy Dragon all be able to Special Summon it.

Advantages of this card :

- The type. Being a Dragon, as I said earlier, allows it to be Special Summoned with REDMD and King Dragun's effects, while warranting it the protection King Dragun can offer, although it is one of the very rare Dragons not needing it.
- The level. 8 is a good number, both for Trade-In and Advance Draw, and it, coupled with its type, allows it to be Special Summoned via Decoy Dragon.
- The attack. 3000 is nothing to laugh about, and such ATK will allow it to replace Dark Horus in some Hopeless Dragon variants.
- The effects. The first one allows it to walk unprotected, as it'll give itself any needed protection, while the second one allows it to protect weaker monsters whose effects could complement his, like Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, who can summon little monsters in order to clean its path for direct attacks, or Prime Material Dragon/Stardust Dragon, which will protect it from untargetting effects.

Disadvantages of this card :

- The attribute. While not being Dark nor Light allows it to work well alongside Koa'Ki Meiru Drago, it also disable cards like Allure of Darkness or Honest to work with it.

Cards to play for supporting this card :

Obviously, Dragon-type monsters will be great with it. That means monsters able to Special Summon it (Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, King Dragun, Decoy Drago), or whose effects will work together with its (Prime Material Dragon, Stardust Dragon, Koa'Ki Meiru Drago).

My thoughts on this card :

I was waiting too much for it to be released, and now we'll have it as a Secret Rare ? I'm sure it'll cost a lot of money, but that's linked to how powerful this card is in any Dragon deck, or in any deck running a high number of low-level monsters whose effects will make your opponent want to crush them. Definitely a must-play card that'll be seen in a lot of decks.

-Izual (Nickname on UniMetagame Forums)
UniMetagame Syndicated Writer

September 1st 2009 Ban List Analysis

2009-08-18T23:14:00.000-07:00

Now we know it for sure (well, 99,9 % sure) :

New Forbidden cards :

Card of Safe Return (from limited) : It was obvious with Mezuki's semi-limitation, and as there aren't other reasons behind its ban, there's nothing else to say.

Crush Card Virus (from limited) : One of the restricted cards that surprises me the most... Look, Konami is re-releasing it in Turbo Pack, and bans it the day it gets out. At least, it's a big "owned" to people who paid 200+ $ in order to get one. And this makes me laugh. A lot.

Dark Strike Fighter (from unlimited) : It was obvious due to the massive OTK that this card has spawned (mainly Rescue Synchro OTK ones). I talked a lot about it earlier, and it seems Konami share the same opinions as me about this card.

Monster Reborn (from limited) : Another obvious ban, but this one is due to Call of the Haunted's limitation. Nothing else to say about it, except it's the end of opponent's Graveyard's pilfering.

New Limited cards :

Black Rose Dragon (from unlimited) : For those not understanding it, this card is limited to counter the "Debris-Hime" deck that was over-popular in the OCG. It's also the reason behind Lonefire's semi-limitation, by the way.

Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind (from unlimited) : An easily Special Summoned Tuner whose effect was overpowered. Now, Blackwings players will have to think twice before using it... Or to use more Blizzards.

Call of the Haunted (from forbidden) : An obvious limitation due to Monster Reborn's ban, and the desire from Konami to leave us at least one generic monster revival.

Cold Wave (from unlimited) : This powerful card, that helped spawn many OTKs for Rescue Synchro, Blackwings and Lightsworn decks, is now limited, in order to prevent its abuse. This + Heavy Storm + Giant Trunade is still that powerful, though.

Demise, King of Armageddon (from unlimited) : An obvious limitation, due to the incoming release in Stardust Overdrive of new support cards for Ritual Monsters, that would let Demise become way more overpowered. Even at one, it's still a threat, though.

Mind Control (from unlimited) : Another obvious limitation, due to all those Synchro abuses that came with the use of this card. Now it's limited, we'll see less "I steal your monster and use it for Synchros", although this and Brain Control can still be put together in one deck.

Mind Master (from unlimited) : See "One for One".

One for One (from unlimited) : This was limited in order to prevent the abuses that will come with incoming level 1 cards, as well as Mind Master abuse for Synchros.

Rescue Cat (from semi-limited) : One of the three obvious counters to the Rescue Synchro OTK decks, like what has been done with TeleDAD on the last banlist. Gladiator Beast players will still play it, even if there's only one of it.

Solemn Judgment (from unlimited) : This is the card everyone is surprised to see there, myself included. And while I can understand the usual statement behind it not being banned ("That's a card that needed skill to be played"), we now have many replacement cards, and there are going to be more of them in the incoming extensions. We'll just have to do whatever we can with those cards and to leave our once precious Solemns.

Summon Priest (from semi-limited) : See "Rescue Cat".

New Semi-limited cards :

Bottomless Trap Hole (from unlimited) : This was the main counter to nearly every "boss" card in the ending banlist, as only Heraklinos was able to counter it. Now, its semi-limitation forces us to play it more conservatively.

Chaos Sorcerer (from limited) : As this card wasn't that threatening in the last banlist, Konami allows us to add a second one in our decks. Spellcaster decks now have their Malicious, with an added removal effect, while other decks now have a more accessible answer to overpowered cards like Stardust Dragon, Judgment Dragon or Gladiator Beast Heraklinos.

Lonefire Blossom (from unlimited) : See "Black Rose Dragon".

Mezuki (from limited) : See "Card of Safe Return".

New Unlimited cards :

Breaker the Magical Warrior (from limited) : This is a good thing for Spellcounter decks, as well as for Oppression Gadgets, as both will now have a more constant S/T removal that's able to hold its own in battle. Remember, though, it'll easily be countered by that now semi-limited card that is Bottomless Trap Hole.

D.D. Warrior Lady (from limited) : Another good thing for Oppression Gadgets, as well as for decks that needed a good way to counter opponent threats. It can easily counter boss monsters as long as it battles.

Destiny Draw (from semi-limited) : A good thing for Perfect Circle Monarchs, a deck that's about to be brought back with this and Raiza's unlimitation. This, alongside with Plasma and Malicious, will be the boost that the Monarchs needed to gain a Tier.

Fissure (from limited) : Free monster destruction at no cost ? Very good against big monsters like Judgment, although Stardust and Heraklinos will easily counter it.

Green Baboon, Defender of the Forest (from semi-limited) : Obvious unlimitation, due to how much they nerfed its effect. It should have been unlimited on the last banlist, though.

Raiza the Storm Monarch (from semi-limited) : See "Destiny Draw".

I didn't include the semi-limited Dulauren, Tiger King of the Ice Boundary as it hasn't been released on the TCG.

My opinion about what's coming in the metagame :

Old Tier 1 :

Lightsworns : With no new limitations, Lightsworns will stay what they are, a quick and powerful deck who relies a bit too much on luck. The semi-limitation of Chaos Sorcerer and the unlimitation of Fissure and D.D.Warrior Lady will be great to counter their main card, Judgment Dragon.

Blackwings : Hurt by the ban of Dark Strike Fighter and the limitation of Gale, Blackwings will have to play more frequently their own Synchro monsters, as well as the newly-released Vayu in order to stay the Tier 1 deck they were. New options may open up with the unlimitation of Destiny Draw and the addition of Malicious and lower level Destiny Heroes in the deck, though.

Rescue Synchro : They are officially dead. With the limitation of two of their main monsters (Summon Priest and Rescue Cat) and the ban of their most powerful Synchro monster, Dark Strike Fighter, they can now do very little things, and aren't a threat anymore.

Gladiator Beasts : The limitation of Rescue Cat afflicted them too, but they are more hurt by the limitation of Solemn Judgment. New variants of the deck will have to rely more on cards like Dark Bribe or My Body as a Shield if they want to control as much as before, although they gained new options in compensation with the unlimitation of D.D.Warrior Lady and Breaker.

Other decks :

Spellcounter : The unlimitation of Breaker gave them more ways to control the field, while the semi-limitation of Chaos Sorcerer appeared as a Malicious-like with a removal effect. Spellcounter decks are more deadly than ever, so keep an eye on them.

Perfect Circle Monarchs : The unlimitation of Destiny Draw and Raiza allows the return of this annoying Monarch variant, which consisted in using cards like Raiza and Phoenix Wing Wind Blast in order to freeze opponent's draws, while making its field grow before locking it with things like Destiny Hero - Plasma and Jinzo.

Zombies : The semi-limitation of Mezuki allows Zombies to have a new chance, although, with the ban of Card of Safe Return, they'll need another draw power in order to be as effective as they were.

New decks :

X-Sabers : You knew Airbellum, now prepare yourself to an onslaught of equally powerful monsters ! They'll start to appear in Ancient Prophecy, so that's the best option for those wanting a quick replacement for Rescue Synchro decks (even though it's not really the same kind of play)

Fortune Ladies : Played by Dark Signer Carly in the 5D's anime, this archetype is known for quick plays and a particular gaming approach. Try it if you want to have something different and powerful at the same time.

Geminis : Yeah, I know, they are not THAT new. But the new monsters and support cards added in the incoming Structure Deck and in Stardust Overdrive will make our good old Geminis a force to reckon with.

-Izual (Nickname on UniMetagame Forums)
UniMetagame Syndicated Writer

Yugioh September 1st 2009 TCG/OCG Full Ban List

2009-08-18T21:04:00.000-07:00

Here is the official TCG/OCG ban list:

Forbidden Cards

Card of Safe Return
Crush Card Virus
Dark Strike Fighter
Monster Reborn

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Limited Cards

Black Rose Dragon
Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind
Cold Wave
Call of the Haunted
Demise, King of Armageddon
Mind Control
Mind Master
One for One
Rescue Cat
Solemn Judgment
Summoner Monk

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Semi-Limited Cards

Bottomless Trap Hole
Chaos Sorcerer
Dulauren, Tiger King of the Ice Boundary
Lonefire Blossom
Mezuki

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No longer limited

Breaker the Magical Warrior
D.D. Warrior Lady
Destiny Draw
Fissure
Green Baboon, Defender of the Forest
Raiza the Storm Monarch

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here is the full list for those that want to speculate on what cards should have been limited more or banned:

I. Forbidden Cards

BLACK LUSTER SOLDIER - ENVOY OF THE BEGINNING
BUTTERFLY DAGGER - ELMA
CARD OF SAFE RETURN
CHANGE OF HEART
CHAOS EMPEROR DRAGON - ENVOY OF THE END
CONFISCATION
CRUSH CARD VIRUS
CYBER JAR
CYBER-STEIN
DARK HOLE
DARK MAGICIAN OF CHAOS
DARK STRIKE FIGHTER
DELINQUENT DUO
DESTINY HERO - DISK COMMANDER
DIMENSION FUSION
EXCHANGE OF THE SPIRIT
FIBER JAR
GRACEFUL CHARITY
HARPIE'S FEATHER DUSTER
IMPERIAL ORDER
LAST TURN
LAST WILL
MAGICAL SCIENTIST
MAGICIAN OF FAITH
MAKYURA THE DESTRUCTOR
METAMORPHOSIS
MIRAGE OF NIGHTMARE
MONSTER REBORN
PAINFUL CHOICE
POT OF GREED
PREMATURE BURIAL
RAIGEKI
RING OF DESTRUCTION
SINISTER SERPENT
SNATCH STEAL
THE FORCEFUL SENTRY
THOUSAND-EYES RESTRICT
TIME SEAL
TRIBE-INFECTING VIRUS
TSUKUYOMI
VICTORY DRAGON
WITCH OF THE BLACK FOREST
YATA-GARASU

NEW! - Card of Safe Return, Crush Card Virus, Dark Strike Fighter, Monster Reborn

II. Limited Cards

ADVANCED RITUAL ART
BLACK ROSE DRAGON
BLACKWING - GALE THE WHIRLWIND
BRAIN CONTROL
BRIONAC, DRAGON OF THE ICE BOUNDARY
COLD WAVE
CALL OF THE HAUNTED
CARD DESTRUCTION
CARD TROOPER
CEASEFIRE
CHAOS SORCERER
CYBER DRAGON
DANDYLION
DARK ARMED DRAGON
DEMISE, KING OF ARMAGEDDON
ELEMENTAL HERO STRATOS
EMERGENCY TELEPORT
EXODIA THE FORBIDDEN ONE
FUTURE FUSION
GIANT TRUNADE
GLADIATOR BEAST BESTIARI
GORZ THE EMISSARY OF DARKNESS
GOYO GUARDIAN
GRAVITY BIND
HEAVY STORM
LEFT ARM OF THE FORBIDDEN ONE
LEFT LEG OF THE FORBIDDEN ONE
LEVEL LIMIT - AREA B
MAGIC CYLINDER
MARSHMALLON
MEGAMORPH
MEZUKI
MIND CONTROL
MIND MASTER
MIRROR FORCE
MYSTICAL SPACE TYPHOON
NEO-SPACIAN GRAND MOLE
NIGHT ASSAILANT
ONE FOR ONE
OJAMA TRIO
OVERLOAD FUSION
PLAGUESPREADER ZOMBIE
REASONING
REINFORCEMENT OF THE ARMY
RESCUE CAT
RETURN FROM THE DIFFERENT DIMENSION
RIGHT ARM OF THE FORBIDDEN ONE
RIGHT LEG OF THE FORBIDDEN ONE
SANGAN
SCAPEGOAT
SMASHING GROUND
SOLEMN JUDGMENT
SNIPE HUNTER
SPIRIT REAPER
SUMMONER MONK
SWORDS OF REVEALING LIGHT
THE TRANSMIGRATION PROPHECY
TORRENTIAL TRIBUTE
TRAP DUSTSHOOT
TREEBORN FROG
UNITED WE STAND
WALL OF REVEALING LIGHT

NEW! - Black Rose Dragon, Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind, Cold Wave, Call of the Haunted, Demise, King of Armageddon, Mind Control, Mind Master, One for One, Rescue Cat, Solemn Judgment, Summoner Monk

III. Semi-Limited Cards
You can ONLY use two of the following cards in the Deck, Extra Deck & Side Deck combined.

ALLURE OF DARKNESS
BOTTOMLESS TRAP HOLE
CHAIN STRIKE
CHAOS SORCERER
DESTINY HERO - MALICIOUS
DULAUREN, TIGER KING OF THE ICE BOUNDARY
GOBLIN ZOMBIE
GOLD SARCOPHAGUS
FOOLISH BURIAL
JUDGMENT DRAGON
LONEFIRE BLOSSOM
MAGICAL STONE EXCAVATION
MASK OF DARKNESS
MEZUKI
MIND CRUSH
NECROFACE
ULTIMATE OFFERING

NEW! - Bottomless Trap Hole, Chaos Sorcerer, DuLauren, Tiger King of the Ice Boundary, Lonefire Blossom, Mezuki

NEW! - The following cards are no longer Limited: Breaker the Magical Warrior, D.D Warrior Lady, Destiny Draw, Fissure, Green Baboon, Defender of the Forest, Raiza the Storm Monarch

The TCG

While this is the official OCG Ban list, it isn't necessarily the official TCG one.

But looking at history as a guide, we can see that past ban lists either EXACTLY reflected the OCG one or had minor differences that didn't change the actual list very much.

So we can reliably say that the above list is your ban list or in essence the list.

If there will be any changes they will be minor and nothing to fuss over.

UniMetagame's analysis of the above list will occur in the next article. Stay tuned til then and enjoy the new list; I know I will! :D

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

August 31st

UPDATE: The two lists have been confirmed to be exactly the same. So don't hesitate to use the above list for either the TCG or the OCG because they are both the same; like last time.

Shapesnatch the Invincible

2009-08-10T06:15:00.000-07:00

Stats of the card :

Type : Machine
Attribute : Dark
Level : 5
ATK : 1200
DEF : 1700
Effect : This card is treated like a Normal Monster. If this card attacks your opponent directly and reduces their Life Points to 0, you win the Match, due to your opponent repeatedly hitting his/her head on the wall, asking "Why ?" between every hit and quickly faint because of the repeated hits. If your opponent faints, this card will steal his soul. If this card steals a soul, it gains 100 ATK.

Where to play this card :

Shapesnatch doesn't want to share his deck with other monsters whose effects won't make it come faster on the field. Thus, the only way you can play Shapesnatch is in a Shapesnatch deck.

Advantages of this card :

- The attribute. Being Dark, Shapesnatch can be summoned with the Allure of Darkness and D.D.R. - Dance Dance Revolution combo. It also gets many support this way, although it won't need any of them, outside of the Special Summoning aspect.
- The type. Being a Machine, Shapesnatch gets another load of support, although, like with his Dark attribute, it doesn't need any.
- The effect. If you wanted to see any person you duel faint from repeated hits of his head to the wall, this card is made for you. Oh, and don't worry for the soul stealing part...

Disadvantages of this card :

...You're expecting the best card of the whole TCG to have some disadvantage ?

Cards to play for supporting this card :

You need to get it on the floor quickly, so any card for that is welcome. Mystic Tomato, Sangan, Summoner's Art, Ancient Rules, Birthright, Swing of Memories, any of these cards may give you access to Shapesnatch and its ultimate power.

My thoughts on this card :

This card is freaking awesome ! I've never seen a card holding such power in its bowtie, and in addition, it's so easy to summon ! The only bad thing is that there only exists copies of this card, the original being nowhere to be found. Copies are known to have no effect, thus looking like Normal Monsters, while the original one will have the effect.

-Izual (Nickname on UniMetagame Forums)
UniMetagame Syndicated Writer

Ban List Analysis: Brain Control

2009-08-05T12:52:00.000-07:00

(Soon winning won't be as easy as drawing a Brain Control. Soon our ban list will reflect what it always has when it came to costless monster grabbing. Soon a great friend to luck sacking will fall. Soon I hope.)

With the new ban list looming closer and closer, it makes sense to start analyzing certain cards and asking whether such cards should be banned.

Rather than start with the cards that are obvious, I thought it would be best to look at a card that isn't on most people's radars.

Here we'll make the case for Brain control and decide if it should or should not be banned.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Card Text

Before getting too deep in the article, it wouldn't hurt to blow up the card text:

Pay 800 Life Points. Select 1 face-up monster your opponent controls. Take control of it until the End Phase.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Popular Tactics

1) Synch with your opponents monster.
2) Tribute it for a higher starred monster.
3) Move opponents monster out of the way - To attack for game
4) Use opponents monster to help you attack for game.

As you can see from the above, your opponent always looses a card and you never play brain control without gaining some advantage out of it.

So it's a minus for your opponent and a 1 for 1 for you, that sets up big plays or gives you game.

The 800 life point cost is laughable by itself; just calling it a cost.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Banned Colleagues

A good question to ask when thinking of banning a card is always wondering if other cards like it are currently banned.

Brain Control has two well known friends as such:

1) Change of Heart
2) Snatch Steal

So what separates Brain control from it's two friends? Well change of heart can target face downs and has no life point cost.

Yet and surprisingly, Snatch steal is also banned but it can't target face downs and it's cost is far worse than Brain Controls.

So why is Snatch steal banned? It being an equip might make it a bit easier to fetch but can that really be the only reason it's banned? Probably not.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luck Sacking

As mentioned above in the tactics section, Brain control allows huge shifts in games.

When you're in the middle of one or nearing the end, a single brain control is really all you need to get game or just barely miss it.

This starts a phenomenon known as Luck sacking, which I'll define as: "luckily drawing a powerful card that puts you in an advantageous situation that on most other occasions would not normally occur."

The key between luck sacking and sacking any other card is how advantageous the card you draw really is.

So why is Brain controlled widely considered a luck sack card? Nearing the end of games or towards the middle people have fewer and fewer life points. A simple brain control takes advantage of that by stealing opponents monsters and swinging for large amounts that normally the opponent is hard pressed to defend against.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Situation A

It's nearing the end of a game and you have 2 cards in hand with 2 on the field, luckily because you conserved your resources.

You have 2000 life points left with a bottomless trap hole set and a 2400 monarch.
You've bested him most of the game and he's down to about 1500 life points.

Your opponent draws his 3rd card, with nothing else on the field.
He summons his monster, to which you bottomless.
Thinking you have won, with only 2 cards left and a summon used, you sigh a breath of relief.

Then he brain controls your monarch and attacks for game; brain control is what he drew.

How is that fair? How many different instances of the above have happened to you?
How many times did you completely control the game but lost because of 1 Brain control?

~~~~~~~~

Situation B

You're playing lightsworn and have a Judgment Dragon on the field, 2 cards in hand, 2 set traps and your opponent is at a mere 1200 life points.

You on the other hand have a strong 3000 and with only 3 cards in his hand, drawing a fourth, and nothing on the field, you think you are close to victory.

Not only that, you also have a solemn set with a bottomless. What else can a player ask for near the end of the game?

Your opponent draws his 4th card and then plays smashing ground.
You think of everything your opponent might play next and know with a bottomless set you are fairly comfortable of weathering the storm.

Therefore you decide to protect your Judgment dragon and Solemn his smashing ground.

Immediately he then plays Brain Control, and right then and there you know he has game.

In almost any other situation you would have had him with your bottomless and Solemn. Yet the power of Brain Control was too much to handle. How is that fair? Did he work hard for the win? Did he deserve it? Obviously not.

After long minutes of play, you find that he wins merely as a result of luck and find the whole game a waste. This happens regardless of the fact that you played well and that he misplayed a lot.

~~~~~~

Situation C

You have 1 card in hand, a set bottomless, and 2 monsters on the field. You have 1500 life points he has 1000.

You feel with your Colossal Fighter on the field and with your Zombie Master, that you're pretty safe; not to mention your bottomless.

Your opponent has 1 set monster and 1 card in hand. He draws his next card.

He brain controls your colossal, sacks it for a 2400 attacking Caius, to which you bottomless.
Yet Caius still gets it's mandatory trigger effect and it gets to remove your zombie master.

He flip summons his monster and attacks for game.
Even in the very best situation where he didn't attack for game because his monster was too weak, just look at how much of your field he destroyed and with such little effort.

You lost 3 cards and he lost 2, plussing him 1 and giving him control of the field; EVEN though you had a Colossal that in most other situations would have been able to come back and even though you had a set bottomless. Now you're left with 1 card in hand and 1 draw, IF you survived the initial flip summon's attack.

Again, how is that fair? How can so much work be done with such little effort? Why are such large swings allowed in Yugioh with such little investment?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Final Thoughts

The situations I presented above were only some of the most popular.
Other non-lethal situations that lead to Synchro summoning or powerful tribute monsters are just as deadly.

They pave the paths for easy wins by people who do not in their right mind deserve it.

Besides the fact that Brain can change the game so quickly and besides the fact that it can be luck sacked, you have to remember that Snatch steal isn't very different from it and yet it remains banned.

It's friends remain banned for good reason and you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who would think those cards would be unbanned this September.

So if most people think change of heart and snatch steal are too powerful for play, then why does Brain control get the exception?

If taking a monster for virtually no cost is balanced and fair in our meta, then why do so many games end by this very act?

The yugioh community has unfairly lost enough games to the staple that calls itself Brain Control.

It has been played for far too long now and ruined too many games to honestly stay and compete past the September 2009 ban list.

If luck sacking should come to an end, how can Brain Control survive?

Yugioh Price List

2009-07-26T03:37:00.000-07:00

To attract more attention to our price list UniMetagame is posting it on the front page.
So far it has only been listed in the Instant news section as well as the Popular Articles section to the right.

It hit the front page back in March so it hasn't been here for a long time. Putting it back here should attract more attention to the list and help our community price their cards better.

Here is the latest update of the price list:

Updated: July 26th

Alphabetical Order

Allure of Darkness = $8.50
Ally of Justice Catastor = $93 **New to list**
Blackwing Armor Master = $37
Charge of the Light Brigade = $53
Crush Card Virus = $169.50 (Amazing deal for Crush. About 80 dollars cheaper than last time. Lot here. Also if that lot sells out there is another one for 205 dollars, still 50 dollars cheaper than last time. Get them while they last.)
Cyber Valley = $8.50
Dark Armed Dragon = $31
Dark Bribe = $17
Dark Strike Fighter = $41
Delta Crow - Anti Reverse = $14
Destiny Draw = $18 (DLG version)
Destiny Hero - Malicious = $20
Emergency Teleport = $7.50
Green Baboon Defender of the Forest(Shonen Jump Version) = $15 (DLG = $17)
Goyo Guardian = $10
Honest (Secret) = $53 (Ghost and Secret about same price now, basically no difference)
Judgement Dragon = $91
Light End Dragon = $20
Mind Control(Gold series) = $12 (WC5 Version = $13.50)
Mirror Force(DB2 version) = $20 (DPYG - Duelist pack Yugi version = $23)
Plaguespreader Zombie = $25 (Ultimate version = $27)
Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon(Hopeless Dragon) = $22
Solemn Judgment(Gold Series 2) = $20 (Championship pack rare = $23) (Dark beginnings = $25) (Metal Raiders = $25) (Dark Legends version = $26)
Tempest Magician = $35
Thunder King Rai-Oh = $13

1 new card added Ally of Justice Catastor. 2 cards removed, Raiza the Storm Monarch and Prime Material Dragon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Full Price list and Details

The full price list goes back to March 9th and has updates every 2 weeks or so til now.
It lets you track a cards price because it archives old prices and it's updated frequently so you never loose track of what a card is worth. That's very important for buyers and sellers and it's especially important for regular duelists when trading.

As for the details of the list such as when we update it and how we determine the prices; they are all listed on that page.

The list's details are re-listed here for convenience:

How Prices are calculated:

We look at ebay's Buy it nows specifically.

After searching for the particular card, we sort the list by lowest price, including shipping, and then we have our price!

Prices are rounded to the closest $0.50 or whole number.
We check every ebay listing to see the sellers rating and to double check if it's a gamble (dice game, random lot, etc.) If the ebay rating is less than 20, we disregard it and we obviously disregard price if it's a random lot(might not receive the item).

To see examples of random lots, check Crush Card Virus on Ebay. There are always sellers underpricing the actual card who sell for the chance to get a crush card without actually delivering.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Updates

We'll try to keep this list updated and there will be a corresponding date at the top that shows when this list was last updated.

Since prices won't change too much you should see an update bi-weekly or monthly at the very least.

If you want other cards added to the list, suggest them in the comments below.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

New Update - Card Quality

With the selling of massive amounts of bad or poor conditioned cards UniMetagame will adopt this policy:

It will ignore all lots for cards that are not in Good condition or better. If a card is said to be damaged or scratched noticably, it's lot will be ignored and we will go to the next lowest ebay lot.

Example: There were 2 lots by the same seller for a Crush Card virus. One was labeled as played or as they put it "Played (P): Can have a crease that is no more than half the card. Will have scratches. If card has small water damage it will be P. Card will definitely still be playable in sleeves. Card has been played with."

That was completely unacceptable so we went to the next lowest which happened to be by the same seller and it was described as excellent condition, which they said was, "Very Slight Scratches or minor imperfections around the corners." That we deemed was acceptable and so we choose to price Crush card at that new lots price.

~~~~~~~~~

Final thoughts

We hope you enjoy our price list and continue to visit it as we continue to update it.

We find it to be a very useful tool for the community and because of that we work hard to keep it up to date and accurate.

As mentioned on the original page, if there are any cards you wish to add to the list, simply add them to the comments here or the comments on the full price list and we'll consider it.

If it doesn't make it to the list we will still price the card for you and add it's price in the comments as a reply.

Instant News

To keep up to date as to when the price list has been updated simply check out our Instant News section at the bottom right.

Each time the list is updated we mention it in that section. This way you don't have to keep checking the price list to know when it has been updated.

We also mention updates to the site in the same section. And as always check out our forums where you can find us each and every week!

Monster Reborn	80 (11%)
Crush Card Virus	201 (27%)
Judgment Dragon	196 (27%)
Charge of the Light Brigade	88 (12%)
Heavy Storm	44 (6%)
Dark Armed Dragon	91 (12%)
Mirror force	44 (6%)
Brain Control	65 (8%)
Torrential Tribute	35 (4%)
Blackwing Armor Master	65 (8%)
Rescue Cat	161 (22%)
Test Tiger	71 (9%)
Solemn Judgment	81 (11%)
Dark Strike Fighter	317 (43%)
None of the Above	87 (12%)

UniMetagame- The Unique Metagame

Yugioh Price List updated December 4th

Yugioh Zombie Madness!

Zombies v.s Chaos-Teleport

Lightsworn v.s Zombie DAD

Stardust Overdrive Survey

Lightsworn v.s Traditional Deck

Lightsworn v.s Traditional Deck

Hidden Arsenal unboxing Videos

Hidden Arsenal Unboxing (Parts 1-5)

Hidden Arsenal Pull rates and Prices

Ratios

Prices

Cloudians, Koa'ki Meiru, and a Traditional Deck; Plus a Yata.

Koa'ki Meiru v.s Cloudian Control Deck (2nd place at SD Regional)

Traditional Deck v.s Koa'ki Meiru Deck

Yata - Bird is the Word

Yugioh Konami Judge Program Certification

Welcome to the KDE Judge Program!

3 New Videos Up - Pile Shuffling and Complete Domination

Greatest Pile Shuffer

Lightsworn v.s Blackwings - Complete Domination

Titans of Konami Video (Lightsworn v.s Blackwings)

Titans of Konami

Frog Deck Onslaught

Frog Onslaught

Yugioh Price List updated October 18th

UniMetagame's first 2 Youtube Videos

Local Tourney Lightsworns Locked down by Diffy and Gadgets

Which Cards would you Ban Poll Results - Metagame Update - Ban List Update

Which of the following cards would you ban?

Hopeless Dragon

Stardust Overdrive - OCG Exclusives

Hidden Arsenal - U.S Duel Terminal Pack

Ancient Prophecy Sneak Peak - Konami Survey

Absolute Powerforce

White Night Dragon

September 1st 2009 Ban List Analysis

Yugioh September 1st 2009 TCG/OCG Full Ban List

Shapesnatch the Invincible

Ban List Analysis: Brain Control

Yugioh Price List

Hidden Arsenal Unboxing

(Parts 1-5)