X-Sabers at Locals

So yeah, I recently took my X-Saber deck to locals, and I figured that I'd write an article about my matches. But first, let's delve into my deck list, shall we?

Monsters:
2 Effect Veiler
1 X-Saber Airbellum
2 X-Saber Pashuul
3 XX-Saber Boggart Knight
3 XX-Saber Darksoul
3 XX-Saber Emmersblade
3 XX-Saber Fulhelmknight
2 XX-Saber Faultroll

Spells:
1 Book of Moon
1 Dark Hole
2 Enemy Controller
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mind Control
1 Monster Reborn
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
2 Pot of Duality

Traps:
2 Gottoms' Emergency Call
1 Reinforce Truth
1 Solemn Judgment
2 Solemn Warning
2 Torrential Tribute
2 Trap Stun

Extra Deck:
1 Chineratech Fortress Dragon
1 Ally of Justice Catastor
1 Naturia Barkion
1 Naturia Beast
1 Red Dragon Archfiend
1 Scrap Dragon
1 Stardust Dragon
1 X-Saber Souza
1 XX-Saber Gottoms
2 XX-Saber Hyunlei
1 Photon Strike Bounzer
1 Number 17: Leviathan Dragon
1 Maestroke the Symphony Djinn
1 Wind-Up Zenmaines

Side Deck:
2 Cyber Dragon
2 D.D. Crow
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
2 Saber Vault
2 Gozen Match
2 Imperial Iron Wall
2 Light-Imprisoning Mirror
2 Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror

Here's a video of my deck, which will go into more depth as to why I played certain cards:



There were only 8 people, so we played 3 rounds of Swiss.

Round 1: Blackwings (won dice roll)

Game 1: I don't open up too well. I Set an Emmersblade, along with 2 S/T, and pass. He opens up with a Bora and attacks into Emmers (I got Fulhelmknight). He puts down 2 backrow and passes back to me. I summon Boggart next turn and attack, but he uses Icarus attack on it and my Set, thus pretty much disrupting my combos. I switch Fulhelmknight to DEF, Set a Reinforce Truth and pass. Next turn he uses MST on my Set (which I chain), but he goes Sirocco-Bora and starts piercing me. I can't come back, and he takes the first Game.

Siding:
+2 Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror
-2 Pot of Duality

Game 2: I pretty much open up the same, and he also opens up the same (Icarus Attack). He decides to make a push and go Blizzard->Bora->Armed Wing. However, I draw into Darksoul a few turns later, and I make a push with Boggart->Fulhelmknight->Faultroll which seals me Game 2.

Game 3: He opens up sub-par while I open up Pashuul, Darksoul, and Faultroll. Next turn he goes Bora->Gale into Armor Master, then drops another Bora. He attacks into the Pashuul I Set, and he passes. I then go Darksoul->Faultroll, then proceed into a Naturia Beast/Scrap Dragon play, pop his Armor Master with a Set MST from my hand, and win the Match turns later. I was actually a bit nervous that he had a Kalut, but he showed me his hand after the Duel and it turned out to be dead.

1-0

Round 2: Six Samurai (won dice roll)

Game 1: I open up Darksoul, MST, and Warning, which I Set. He goes Gateway (which I MST), then proceeds on using a Dojo. He summons Kageki, gets Kizan, and sends Dojo to the grave to get out Kagemusha. He tries to go for Shi En, but I flip the Warning and it's game moments later.

Siding:
+2 Gozen Match
+2 Cyber Dragon
+1 MST
-2 Enemy Controller
-2 Pot of Duality
-1 Mind Control

Game 2: He opens up Gateway along with Kageki/Kagemusha. He gets a Grandmaster from Gateway, and then tunes for Shi En. He puts down 2 backrow and passes. I Set an Emmersblade, along with a Gozen Match (yes!) and a Gottoms' Emergency Call. He attacks into the Emmersblade the following turn, letting me get Darksoul, which he kills, letting me get Faultroll in the End Phase. On my turn I summon a Fulhelmknight, and use Gozen Match to bait out the Shi En (which he indeed does negate). I then use Gottoms' Emergency Call, SS Faultroll, get out Hyunlei to deal with his backrow, and swarm the field which leads me to game in the next few turns.

2-0

Round 3: Dark Worlds (won dice roll)

This match was actually heavily to my advantage, since my opponent actually asked me to build a deck for her before the tournament started. Hence, I knew how the deck was built and what cards were in it, and what I needed to look out for as well.

Game 1: I opened up sub-par, leaving me to just a field of a Set Darksoul and 2 backrow. She opens with Card Destruction, dropping 2 Grapha, 2 Goldd, and a Broww! I manage to stall with a Pashuul for awhile, but to no avail; she uses Smashing Ground on it, and I die turns later.

Siding:
+2 D.D. Crow
+1 MST
+2 Saber Vault
+2 Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror

Game 2: I opened up decent, getting a Shadow Mirror and a MST. I set both, along with an Emmersblade, and pass. She uses Gates and loses it to my MST, then summons a Snoww (WTF? You drop Snoww, not summon it!) and attacks into the Emmersblade. I get a Fulhelmknight. She Sets a card and passes back to me. Knowing that the Set most likely was a bluff/was Reckless Greed, I went into the Boggart/Tuner/Faultroll combo, go into a Naturia Beast, and seal the game from there.

Game 3: She doesn't open up that good, and again, proceeds to summon Snoww (WTF again!), along with 2 backrow. I use Heavy Storm, and she chains Reckless Greed. I pretty much make the same Naturia Beast play from before, and I take the game from there.

Honestly, throughout the whole match, I don't think she used Reckless Greed too properly, and I don't think she knew how to use the deck that well either. Ah well.

3-0

That 3-0 record won me the tin you see in the video, and that awesome Ultra-Rare Crimson Armor Shadow Ninja!

So yeah, that about does it for this article. Until next time!

-MorphGuy1000

P.S. Would you like to see more of these sort of articles on the forum! Let me know with the poll I set up!

I would recommend adding prohibition to your side deck if you can get your hands on it. It's one of the most overlooked side deck options ever, but it's actually so good. Against blackwings, prohibiting something like kalut, bora, icarus attack, or black whirlwind can be absolutely killer.

I actually used to use Prohibition, but I took them out for the Cyber Dragons. I'd rather go for a 4000 ATK beater than Prohibiting, say, Geargiarmor. Besides, Cyber Dragon works well against many decks with weak monsters nowadays (for example, Wind-Ups, Inzektors, etc.).

I can also use it to get rid of a particularly annoying stall monster that is a staple in many decks. Yes, Zenmaines, I'm talking about you.

Personally, I would remove an MST and a couple of mirrors for x2 prohibition. It's just so much more versatile. Against decks where shadow- or light-imprisoning mirror is good, you can usually get the same job done by prohibiting a specific key card, like centipede or hornet against inzektors. There's a lot of strong decks that don't use light or dark monsters, like wind-ups, against which prohibition would easily be usable. I guess it comes down to this: mirrors take more side-deck space, but they can shut decks down much more powerfully, while prohibition makes room for other side deck cards while being less devastating in some cases, but it's useful against every deck. Potential vs versatility.

I guess that's all just a matter of personal opinion. To be completely honest with you, there were duels that I sided in Prohibition, got it out and prohibited a key card, and STILL lost the duel.

Another thing that I don't really like too much about Prohibition is that in some rogue decks, you have no idea what TO prohibit. Thus, I find the Mirrors more versatile.

Lastly, why in the world would I side out the third MST? Have you not heard of Skill Drain and Soul Drain?

Just my thoughts, no hard feelings intended.

Standard side:

x2 Penguin Soldier
x2 Snowman Eater
x3 Prohibition
x2 Shadow-Imprsoning. (varies with deck)
x2 Light-Imprisoning (same as above)
x3 macro cosmos (again depends)

Well, against decks that you would expect to run troublesome continuous spell/traps, obviously the third MST would be needed. Against a lot of other decks, on the other hand, it isn't.

I agree with you on the point that you have to know what to prohibit in order to prohibit.

What's your opinion on electric virus? I've screwed up chaos dragon decks big time back in the day, but obviously, you won't be facing dragon or machine decks most of the time.

I find Virus too situational. If you don't draw it early game (or at least in the very latest, mid-game), then it's pretty useless in my opinion. I have the Iron Walls to stop Chaos Dragons, anyways, and Enemy Controller as well.

On top of that, I don't have a copy IRL. lol

And Flames, let me break down your Side Deck:

2 Penguin Soldier: I guess it's alright...
2 Snowman Eater: Same as Penguin Soldier
3 Prohibition: NEVER. 3 = so many damn dead draws. I don't need to prohibit more than 1 card in many scenarios.
The Mirrors: Definitely. A staple, in my opinion.
3 Macro Cosmos: NEVER, like the 3 Prohibition. Macro kills my Darksoul, my Emmers, my Gottoms' Emergency Call, and Faultroll's effect (to a degree). That's a quarter of my deck gone right there.

I agree with saber man. I would say veilers, 2 prohib, 2 of each mirror, maxx C, and 2 macro cosmos (only if your deck can run with it) is a decent enough skeleton side deck. I guess imperial iron wall is good too.

Depends on your deck lol...

I don't use that build for every deck. I'd be stupid to run Macro Cosmos in Dark Worlds or Infernities, but those are usually some key cards in helping shut down decks.

And Virus can be sided in, as well as puppet plant, but they are quite situational. So, maybe side in 1/2 or none at all.