Chris Tomson

And potentially pushing yourself away if that ends up happening.

Although that could just be me.

So I've pretty much neglected Tumblr. Honestly, I only came on for the XXX accounts, so there's been no point in coming back.

But I have created a mature account on Twitter, while my main one is here

Oh my God, I want a real Eevee. It's more adorable than I thought it would...

Does anyone play Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links? Meh, I'm gonna talk about it anyway 😜.

So the latest ban list will be coming into effect on March 25th. And the main target is the Koa'ki Meiru deck. As someone who uses that deck, mostly because it's one of the most powerful decks you can build without spending money on the game (even if it's a grind), I can understand why, in the same way I can understand why they targeted Fur Hires when they broke the meta (and were far more consistent than Koa'ki Meirus before the ban hammer came down).

From the 25th, Maximus will be limited to 1 and Iron Core will be set to 2. The latter confused me a bit when I saw the announcement in game. But then I saw a video from dzeef that pointed out that a lot of KM decks were running two Hey Trunades, so it made a bit more sense. Then I faced a couple of those decks, and it made even more sense.

A bit of context: while the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG banlist has a 2 copy limit as well, you can run 2 copies of any card that's limited to two. In Duel Links, you can only run one card at two copies. If you want to have another card within the two copy bracket, you have to run one copy of each or just remove one of the affected cards entirely.

So using KMs as an example, if you still wanted to use Hey Trunade, you'd either have to run one copy with one Iron Core, which would heavily damage the deck, or you'd have to cut Iron Core entirely to run two Trunades, which would make the deck... pretty much unusable. Especially since you need to banish an Iron Core to summon Maximus, or discard one to keep Valafar on the board. Both of which, by the way, have 3000 ATK.

Basically, the way Duel Links handles semi-limiting makes you think smarter with your deck building, especially compared to the TCG, which is something I really like. And while I never used Iron Core and Hey Trunade together, it made sense to limit the former since it was vital for the deck while the latter was an annoyance. So the developers have made it so players are forced to choose between a standard KM deck or continue with the troll one, but making it less consistent.

But.

As someone who uses KMs, I don't think it goes far enough. While I can understand Maximus being limited to 1 (having three beat sticks that can each destroy a card, before the Battle Phase - with the only drawback coming down to how many Iron Cores you have in hand as well, can be really annoying to play against. It only takes having two Iron Cores and two Maximus to end a Duel on your turn), I don't think the banlist goes far enough to drop the KM strategy down the meta tier ladder.

When Fur Hires were hit, Dyna, Donpa and Wiz (the three biggest problems) were the targets. And while Beat could search them all out, it was an incredibly slow process. Hitting the Fur Hire strategy the way they did pretty much killed it.

Koa'ki Meirus, however... well, they're barely even harmed by comparison. Sure, knocking Maximus down to 1 isn't ideal and having Iron Core at 2 removes the threat of Hey Trunade... but they've not considered just how much support the KM deck has. Namely (in my experience) Diamond Core and Core Compression. And, to a lesser extent, Koa'ki Meiru Boulder.

Diamond Core allows you to search your deck for a Koa'ki Meiru card (and it can be banished to protect your front row from destruction).

If you have an Iron Core in hand, Core Compression allows you to discard a KM monster to draw two. It balances itself out in card economy (you're getting rid of two to get two), but having two less cards in the deck makes it easier to find the cards you want. Granted, using CC is risky as you don't know what you'll draw. But activate three in a row, the odds you'll get the cards you want are decreased significantly.

Boulder is a weak monster that allows you to search for either a level 4 or below KM monster or an Iron Core. Its major drawback is that it's much slower than Diamond Core.

The problem is that all of these aren't aren't limited. So you can have three of each in a deck, meaning the limiting of the two other cards they've targeted is almost irrelevant.

And that's not even mentioning the fact that Urnight can special summon a KM from the deck if you have an Iron Core in hand, so you can make up for the lack of Maximus by just flooding your board using a card that's easier to summon. And there's the fact that Sandman and Wall can deal with back row while Maximus tears the front apart.

Honestly, I don't think there is a way to deal with Koa'ki Meiru decks in Duel Links. The only major issue is that it relies heavily on Iron Core. If you don't draw one, or a support card that can add one to the hand, then you're going to struggle. But with Duel Links only having 20-30 card decks, you don't have that problem too often. And since players only have 4000 LP, it's easy to decimate an opponent in seconds.

What I'm saying is the only way to deal with Koa'ki Meirus in the banlist is to, possibly, ban the whole deck. I'd be disappointed if they did since it's one of the few decks I've actually been competitive with. But if a fan who uses the deck can see its problems, well... that says everything.

Just an appreciation post for this line. I love all three of them, and I don't think they'll ever be topped.

Best starter of the newest generation, to be honest. Compared to past generations?

Fire: Cyndaquil > Litten > Scorbunny > Chimchar > Charmander > Torchic > Fennekin > Tepig

Water: Popplio > Froakie > Squirtle > Totodile > Mudkip > Piplup > Oshawott > Sobble

This is everything I could have wanted. I can't wait to see what else is in store.

Seriously, this looks so, so good. Especially Polar; he looks extremely huggable!

OH MY GOD, PURA IS SO ADORABLE!

I've had a love hate relationship with Cortex Castle. It's a fantastic track, but... those spiders. And that little intersection after you enter the castle. It's tough to know which way to go for the faster time.

Either way, I'm loving how it looks so far.