TEAM YCS Las Vegas Day 1 Tech Update
Here are some of the trends we’re seeing this weekend at TEAM YCS Las Vegas!
Lullaby of Obedience
Some savvy Snake-Eye Duelists have found a new option for the mirror match! Lullaby of Obedience has you declare a Monster Card name. Your opponent then takes a monster with that name from their deck and has to make a decision. They can add it to your hand, or they can have you Special Summon it in Attack Position while ignoring any Summoning conditions. In a mirror match, you can name whatever you might need at the moment. Say you name Snake-Eyes Poplar. If they have you Special Summon Poplar, you’ll get its effect to search for a Snake-Eye Spell or Trap. If they choose to add Poplar to your hand, you can activate its other effect to simply Special Summon it anyway! Other good choices are Legendary Fire King Ponix, Sacred Fire King Garunix, Snake-Eye Ash, or Diabellstar the Black Witch. Your opponent will likely not let you Special Summon those for free, but they’re great cards to have available. Plus, if they’re in your hand, your opponent doesn’t have them.
You can also use Lullaby to name a card like Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, which you’d normally prefer to have in your hand. Your opponent doesn’t want that, but the alternative is to give you a free Synchro or Link Material. Paying 2000 Life Points to Lullaby for this isn’t the best, but it’s an additional option. That versatility is a big part of what makes Lullaby strong.
Ghost Mourner & Moonlit Chill
Sometimes, Effect Veiler and Infinite Impermanence aren’t enough. Many Duelists are turning to Ghost Mourner & Moonlit Chill for even more effect negation! Ghost Mourner can only activate in response to a Special Summon, making it more restrictive than the former two options. However, additional negates are extremely valuable. These cards all help a lot against cards like Snake-Eye Ash and Lo, the Prayers of the Voiceless Voice, which have more than one effect that needs to be shut down. For example, using Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring to negate Snake-Eye Ash might stop the search, but won’t stop the other effect to Special Summon Snake-Eyes Flamberge Dragon.
Ghost Mourner’s activation timing is more strict in some ways, but actually more lax in others. Effect Veiler can only be used in your opponent’s Main Phase. Infinite Impermanence has no specific timing limits, but can’t be used from your hand once you’ve begun making plays, making it sometimes an awkward draw. Ghost Mourner only works after a Special Summon, but can otherwise be used on any turn or phase.
Ghost Mourner’s burn damage is also a welcome addition. It’s not the primary reason you’re using the card, but hey, it’s all upside. When things are down to the wire, that extra damage can come in clutch. We saw that damage make a difference in our Round 5 Feature Match.
Continuous Traps
A big Side Deck option this weekend is Summon Limit. This Trap Card is not just a lockdown card. It’s also Chainable, allowing you to flip it in response to an effect, blocking the Summon and wasting that card. It’s important to note, something like a Pendulum Summon or an effect like Snake-Eyes Flamberge Dragon are one Summon, even though multiple monsters are hitting the field. This card is powerful against almost any strategy, especially when your own deck doesn’t need to Summon a bunch. Voiceless Voice is a good example.
Another popular Side Deck card is Anti-Spell Fragrance. This card is constantly wavering in and out of popularity as Spell-based Decks go in and out of the meta. The way to use Anti-Spell Fragrance best is to break parity on it. That is to say, use all your Spell Cards before you flip it on your opponent’s turn.
What’s notable about these two cards is that they’re showing up a lot in Snake-Eye Decks – the very same Decks that should be struggling with them. Why? In part, it’s simply about going first. These cards live in the Side Deck and don’t come in unless the Duelist knows they’re taking the first turn, when they can ignore the effects. The second aspect is Diabellstar the Black Witch. You can use floodgate Continuous Traps like these to shut down your opponent’s turn, and then get rid of them with Diabellstar on your own turn! You were going to play Diabellstar anyway, and this maneuver frees you from your own Trap Card.
These are just a few of the hot tech cards we’re seeing on Day 1 of TEAM YCS Las Vegas!