One of the biggest changes to the Advanced Format Forbidden & Limited Cards List was the Semi-Limiting of Tour Guide from the Underworld.  Previously, Duelists running Tour Guide almost universally played three copies alongside Sangan, giving them a chance to resolve two Tour Guide effects in a single Duel.  Running Sangan gave access to a powerful search effect, and granted a fourth compatible Level 3 Fiend-Type that a Duelist wouldn’t mind having if they drew into it before Tour Guide Special Summoned it.

But with Tour Guide now down to two-per-Deck, Duelists have been forced to adapt if they still want to use her, and we’re seeing them do so in a variety of ways.  Here are five different game-plans we’re seeing on the tournament floor this afternoon.

Just Run Two Tour Guides:
Remember when Duelists splashed two Gravekeeper’s Spy into different Decks, just to get more Tribute fodder and Synchro Materials?  Some are playing Tour Guide from the Underworld the same way, foregoing Sangan entirely and just using one Tour Guide to immediately grab the other.  It’s a minimalist strategy that has some challenges, including losing the search power of Sangan, but some Duelists who don’t have much room in their Main Deck are still finding room for two Tour Guides.

Two Tour Guides + Sangan:
Probably the most popular decision of the bunch we’re discussing here, most Duelists have just accepted the loss of their third Tour Guide and continued playing it the exact same way.  Sangan’s a good draw for most Decks anyways, so if you Summon your first Tour Guide to Special Summon your second copy, then draw Sangan later, it’s still a really useful monster.  And if you draw Sangan first, you can use its ability to search out Tour Guide.

Tour Bus From The Underworld:
Though Tour Bus was released months ago, it only seems to be coming into its own now.  As a fourth Level 3 Fiend-Type that works with Tour Guide, you can Special Summon the Bus with your first Tour Guide to make a Rank 3 Xyz monster, then use it to shuffle back a monster of your choice when it’s detached as an Xyz Material.  Then, if you draw your second Tour Guide, you can Special Summon Sangan with it and make another Rank 3.  You can even send back the Tour Guide you Special Summoned the Bus with in the first place, with the Bus’ effect, giving you more chances to draw into a live Tour Guide play.  Wind-Up Duelists flirted with this strategy earlier this Summer, and they’re doing it again here this weekend.

Night Assailant:
The big challenge when you play Tour Bus, is that if you draw it instead of bringing it out with Tour Guide, it’s a difficult card to put to work.  Since its effect activates in the Graveyard and it doesn’t have very useful ATK and DEF, the only way to use it proactively is to try and put together a Rank 3 Xyz Summon with something like a used Snowman Eater.  Some Duelists are choosing to play Night Assailant instead for just that reason, because they know that if they draw it, the Assailant can still be a really useful card.  Destroying big threats like Evolzar Laggia and Chaos Sorcerer, it can also be combined with Flip Effect monsters like Snowman Eater or Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter, returning those cards to their owner’s hand once they’re in the Graveyard when it’s discarded from the hand.  It doesn’t have as much synergy as Tour Bus from the Underworld, but it’s got higher utility – you sacrifice some combo potential for a less risky card.

Dark Resonator / Possessed Dark Soul / Dark Mimic LV3:
Some Decks have Tour Guide-friendly Fiend-Types built right in, like Dark World’s use of Broww, Huntsman of Dark World.  In other cases, Duelists are getting creative and trying all sorts of Level 3 Fiends.  Newly revitalized through Battle Pack: Epic Dawn we’ve seen Dark Resonator on the tournament floor today.  Possessed Dark Soul returns after some successful showings this summer at European YCS tournaments, and Dark Mimic LV3 is another monster that actually has a useful effect when Special Summoned by Tour Guide.  

There are a lot of ways to deal with “The Tour Guide Problem”, but we won’t know what the most successful solutions are until the end of the weekend.  Until then, we’ll have to keep a careful eye on the issue as this tournament progresses!