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Tech Update: Round 10
The tech picks that emerged over the course of yesterday’s competition are surprising because they all have one thing in common: they’re all cards that don’t normally belong in the Decks they were being seen in. Not sure what I mean? It’s easier just to show you. Check it out…
“Light-Imprisoning Mirror”:
This card has been favorable tech ever since the debut of Lightsworn, as it shuts down important monster effects in that Deck. So it was kind of surprising when top Lightsworn Duelists were siding it themselves yesterday. What was once the number one tech card to Side Deck against Lightsworn was suddenly reinvented in this tournament as a secret weapon working in the Deck’s favor.
The logic is familiar and hearkens back to last year’s U.S. National Championship. Twelve months ago we saw top-ranked Duelists playing copies of “Royal Oppression” in Gladiator Beasts, Main Decking or siding copies of it for the mirror match. The trick was to quickly establish a dominant field presence (most commonly by Summoning “Gladiator Beast Heraklinos”) and then have “Royal Oppression” on-hand to ensure that your opponent couldn’t fight back in kind. Without the option of “Test Tiger” or “Gladiator Beast Gyzarus,” your opponent just wouldn’t be able to compete with you and would be forced into a series of losing exchanges. Victory for the controller of “Royal Oppression” would soon follow.
The same technique was later adapted for the March ’08 format, in which we saw Teleport / “Dark Armed Dragon” Duelists employing the same methods: Synchro Summon a monster or two, flip “Royal Oppression,” and all of a sudden your opponent had no way to fend off your attackers. “Dark Armed Dragon” couldn’t be Summoned to clear your field, “Colossal Fighter” couldn’t be relied on to swing over your “Stardust Dragon,” and so on. What was once a waiting game in which Duelists would try to be the last to commit their cards to the field for Synchro Summons, became a race to see who could Synchro Summon first and then flip “Royal Oppression.”
In the case of a Lightsworn mirror match, “Light-Imprisoning Mirror” functions in a very similar way. There are a number of early game effects that can provide a big advantage to the Duelist that plays them first: for instance the effects of “Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner,” “Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior,” and “Wulf, Lightsworn Beast.” If one Duelist can activate several of those effects first and then flip “Light-Imprisoning Mirror” to keep their opponent from following suit, one player has a distinct advantage. They are likely to have more cards, more field presence, and the answers that the opponent would normally look for (such as “Celestia, Lightsworn Angel”) generally won’t be of use. It’s a cool idea, and if it makes the Top 16 we can expect to see it in future events.
“Blackwing - Sirocco the Dawn”:
Know where “Blackwing - Sirocco the Dawn” is a good card? Blackwings! Know where else it’s a pretty good card? Everywhere else, apparently!
Because Sirocco’s ability counts the ATK of Blackwing monsters on your opponent’s side of the field as well as your own, a third copy has been popular Side Deck tech for clever Blackwing Duelists in the mirror match. If your opponent pressed several attacks to leave your field bare, you could Normal Summon Sirocco, boost it with its own effect by drawing off the opponent’s total combined Attack Points, and then make one enormous attack for a ton of damage. What took a bit longer to figure out was that when you’re up against Blackwings, this trick works just as well for any other Deck too.
Several Synchro Cat Decks at this event Side Decked Sirocco for this purpose, but plenty of Duelists even went so far as to Main Deck a single copy. It was especially popular in DARK Synchro Decks, in which it could be thrown away for “Allure of Darkness” when it wasn’t useful. That’s important, because the card has less use when there are no Blackwings around.
Right now a lot of Duelists Side Decking Sirocco are well positioned in this tournament, having already guaranteed their spot in the Top 64 or simply being one match win away from clinching their seat in the Elimination rounds. If this one doesn’t make it to the Top 16 I’d be pretty surprised.
“Waboku”:
Oh yes – even that signature Trap Card from Gladiator Beasts’ arsenal has been borrowed and played elsewhere. With Gladiators having an extremely low level of representation in this tournament field “Waboku” became a viable alternative to “Threatening Roar.” The main reason “Waboku” lost favor to Roar over the past year was the fact that Gladiator Beasts didn’t need to deal battle damage to benefit from their attacks. But with Gladiators gone, that’s no longer a concern, and competitors are exploring the benefits this unique card offers.
We saw “Waboku” played in both Lightsworn and Blackwings this weekend, resulting in two big advantages. The first is the nullification of Damage Step tricks. If someone sends their weaker Blackwing or LIGHT Monster to attack your stronger monster, it’s pretty obvious that they have “Blackwing - Kalut the Moon Shadow” or “Honest” in hand to turn the tables. But before the Damage Step is reached you can activate “Waboku,” ensuring that your monster survives. Doing so renders “Honest” or Kalut irrelevant. Your opponent will either have to waste their ATK bonus just to save their own monster from being destroyed, or they’ll have to just let their monster get destroyed. It’s a great trick that caught a lot of people by surprise yesterday.
The second use for “Waboku” is in mirror matches where the same monsters are often facing off on the field. This is especially relevant in Blackwings. Go ahead, slam your copy of “Blackwing - Shura the Blue Flame” into your opponent’s! Normally both would be destroyed and neither player would get to Special Summon a monster with Shura’s effect. But flip “Waboku” and the situation changes: Your Shura survives, and because it does, you’ll get its effect while your opponent gets nothing.
So there it is – three hot new pieces of tech, at least one of which was already hot tech in a completely different context. I don’t think anyone saw this coming. If they did, they probably only anticipated one of these three cards being played the way we saw this weekend. It’s a nice example of how truly innovative Duelists can push the envelope and look in unexpected places to find an edge.
Jason Grabher-Meyer
