Dragon Killers

Match the dragon killer with the method they used: 

1. Beowulf           ___              A. Shot an arrow over the garden wall

2. Sigurd              ___              B. Attacked it with a lance and then bridled it with a girdle

3. Saint George    ___              C. Enlisted his friend Wiglaf to help him stab it to death

4. Hercules          ___               D. Dug a pit and then stabbed it with an anvil-busting blade

5. Konami           ___               E. Forbade the babies and limited the big dragons

Who’s the greatest dragon slayer of them all? Arguably the minds of Konami are.  They took on multiple dragons at once and wiped them out in an afternoon.  

I have now lived through enough forbidden and limited lists to know that pronouncements of a deck’s death can be premature.  Remember when the hit they Wind-up loop?  Within weeks, clever players created new ways of making the deck work.  Granted, I am not a clever player; but, I can think no way to make the dragons work in a manner that we have grown accustomed.  We may see other dragon type decks show up in regional lists from time to time.  For example, the addition of Chaos Sorcerer may boost Chaos Dragons.  However, I feel comfortably predicting E dragons will soon be history. 

As a result, we may be living in a time where 60 to 80% of the meta is not dominated by one archetype ...

… at least for the time being.  The new sets will bring support to several archetypes and we will be back to a meta dominated by one or two.  Nevertheless, the near future will likely be pretty open and interesting. 

My post on all 150 archetypes is forthcoming.  For now, here are a few thoughts:

1. Mezuki, Plaguespreader, and Tourguide go to three.  I suspect there has been some disappointment in the interest in Vampires and Ghostricks.  Unlimiting all three of these cards will allow for some creative deck-building.  Of the three, Plaguespreader will have the least impact.  Its effect is costly and the pool of level six synchros is still weak.  TGU should see more play even without Sangan.  At three, the chance of drawing her before some other level three fiend is significantly increased.  We also have better rank three XYZs.   Most Zombie players have dreamed of the days with Mezuki at three.  Though the deck suffers from “Neg One” special summoning, Zombie World could be a very effective anti-meta card.  I would predict that all three archetypes will see increased play though not quite to the tier one level.  

2. Tenki to three.  I am not thrilled about this change.  Fire Fists have always been a hard match up and I didn’t think they needed help.  I suspect this move is to further boost Bujins though I’m not sure they need it either.  This change, along with Ptolemy M7, will help Constellars.  Though a lot of Constellar players have become a little disenchanted with their deck, it should do better in a slower format. 

3. Divine Wind to one.  This change was a blow for those of us who love the Mist Valley archetype.  Sure, there is this FTK, which is so unlikely that no one with sense would play it.  Konami should have noticed that Divine Wind Harpies were not overrunning the meta.  In fact, standard Harpies were more successful than Divine Wind variants.  Personally, I don’t think the latter has much likelihood of success at this point. 

4. They kill trolls too!  The only reason that Konami took so long in limiting Final Countdown and forbidding Self-Destruct Button is that they were embarrassed to admit these cards existed. Frankly, I never found Chain Burn and Final Countdown decks that difficult to beat.  However, I will not mourn their loss.   Same goes for Sixth Sense though I found playing this card underwhelming.  People’s hatred for the card has more to do with selective memory.  In other words, they remember the times their opponent used it to draw six cards and forget the times they milled two.  Nevertheless, it has no business being in the game.  Return from a Different Dimension also has some trollish features.  At the very least, I won’t have to watch Bujin players summon five monsters from their banished pile.  

So how good are you at Dragon lore?  Below are the answers to the quiz at the top of the page. 

Answers:

1. C; 2. D; 3. B; 4. A; 5. E