Abyss Rising Exceeds - Look Out For Them

Hello all, and I've only got one exam left to go which is on Monday night. I leave to return to Brunei on the Wednesday straight after that but of course I'll still be blogging.

Shadow of the Six Samurai - Shien

First up is Shadow of the Six Samurai - Shien. Konami has revealed its effect to target monsters with an attack lower than 2000, and to then boost its original attack to 2000. So essentially, the monster that benefits the most out of this is obviously Kageki, as he still ends up on a sweet 3500 thanks to his massive boost. That's still good enough to take out whatever monster you may be up against. However, it sadly means that there is no protection for Shi En or Shadow himself, which sorta sucks. Of course Shi En can still boot another samurai off the field to keep him from dying, but it means that with only a couple of monsters, he can be run over rather easily, just as before, which is disappointing. Because you have to make Utopia in this situation, you can't push as much as you'd want to just so you can have the defence to survive, should everything go wrong.

Playtesting with my samurais yesterday, I noticed the number of times that the two extra counters that Shadow would have put on the field would have been so handy for either ridiculous gateway spamming, or to get Dojo up to four counters so that I could then bring out LSS - Enishi and win. Also, my current build seems to get alot more use out of Leviair than before. I think I just get to use LSS - Enishi more often which means that Leviair actually has a target. Hence, it can grab a banished Kageki, and if your field is also graced with a Shadow, then that means that you have an OTK because he can put Kageki at 3500, while he himself goes in for 2500, and Leviair for 1800. Shadow would likely have been summoned by overlaying LSS - Enishi and Kizan in this situation.

However, the combo that went off the most when I decided to draw the nuts without Gateway joining in the fun usually ended up in having a Naturia Beast, backed with a trap or two, while sitting alongside LSS - Enishi and a Kizan. And the coolest thing was that for this exact situation and tons of others, Samurai now have more support than ever before. And thanks to the new set Abyss Rising, here's why:

Gandiva

http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Heroic_Champion_-_Gandiva
2 Level 4 Warrior-Type monsters
Once per turn, when a Level 4 or lower monster(s) is Special Summoned to your opponent's side of the field: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; destroy that monster(s).

Its effect has yet to be confirmed, but I doubt that it'll change to be honest. Its stats are rather solid but not especially high. Of course, his effect is what draws him apart from the other Rank 4 monsters that you could be playing. As I talked about in my last post regarding Shadow, Samurais suffer from potentially getting blown out when they all hit the field, and then a bigger attacker comes down that they cant get rid of quickly enough. Gandiva solves this problem really well, even if his niche effect is rather situational. With his effect, he has the ability to completely shut down the Dino Rabbit deck if you can setup faster than they can. Also it stops Wind-ups instantly if that means anything anymore. In Dino Rabbit, both Rescue Rabbit and Tourguide can do nothing at all. That leaves them with their Guaibas and Vanillas to take you down. However, their attack manipulation cards (Chalice and Lance) are useless if you've got Naturia Beast face-up. So in this situation you've got a very simple lock up.

In most cases, this option is gonna be better than making Shi En, trying to protect him and hoping for the best because they can easily bait his effect out. And furthermore, relying on having a live trap set just to ensure you stay on the field is not the best way to go. The above combo with Gandiva is excellent because it doesn't need traps to keep it going, and if you do, well you've won. Swap Gandiva out for Roach to take on the Chaos Dragon matchup, and you're still good to go. So now you have a toolbox of different strategies depending on the situation that you're facing.

Gagaga Gunman

http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Gagaga_Gunman
2 Level 4 monsters
Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; activate 1 of these effects based on this card's battle position. ● Attack Position: This turn, during the Damage Step, if this card attacks an opponent's monster, it gains 1000 ATK, and the attack target loses 500 ATK. ● Defense Position: Inflict 800 damage to your opponent.

Now here's another guy with an interesting effect. He can get over anything with less than 3000atk which is very handy to have. Now decks other than those that play warriors have an Excaliber-esque exceed to use. Also, his defence is rather solid. And the choice to be able to deal a bit of burn when required should never be overlooked.


Aside from all the other Mermail stuff and what not, Tannhäuser Gate looks like fun, letting you hit higher ranked exceeds, while Abysstrom possess quite a bit of raw power that someone might be smart enough to figure out how to use it more than effectively. Heraldics look alright so far but there isn't much to go off at the moment. I like the art on Number 9: Canopy Star - Dyson Sphere, but I doubt it'll do much in terms of being actually played. There's still a few more exceeds to be revealed as of yet, and I'll talk about them when they come out if they're good enough to be talked about. I won't likely do much analysis, if any at all, on Mermails because I've seen at least two other blogs that I read go quite in depth over them, so just check my recommended blog list every once in a while to see if anyone puts anything regarding them up. The set currently has lots of gaps as it is, so there is a chance that it could get alot better.


Sorry if this post was more directed towards how they provided opportunities for Samurai to get better, but this is what came to my head as their best use so far from a personal point of view. Of course, the September Banlist is closer than the release of this set in the TCG, so whether these points will be as relevant in the future has yet to be seen.

I've also picked up my first few MTG cards, being Sun Titan because he rocks the shit, and a few other cards like Splinterfright for this deck that I plan to make if the money necessary to do so appears from the sky sometime in the next month. I'm keen to enjoy Magic as I did in January earlier this year. Except this time, with my own deck, teched out in the way I'd like it to be. Should be good.


Till next time, this is DEFER signing out.