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In this thread, I review Yu-Gi-Oh! Cards [Now reviewing Generation 7!]
- Thread starter Fj0823
- Start date
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With a Ouija Board no less! Clearly, that's how you summon a Cyborg.
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Don't worry, I know you don't care about Yusaku and he's an unlikeable prick, so the writers fix it by giving him zero development but they introduce a Yusaku 2.0 that smiles, a lot. and never shuts up about how flaming his soul is,and always wins too, specially against female characters...And they don't develop him either.
That fixes the problem right?
I completely forgot about that guy. Wow
Wait, he just beat Blue Girl once, right?
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It's not like the writers gave Aoi much of a thing to recover from, unfortunately.
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To me that was the final nail in the coffin for her, when she became Blue Girl, I thought that all her previous awfulness was intended becaus she was now going to mature out of the idol phase, and then...LOL
I find this hard to believe considering VRAINS bored me to tears.
I was also annoyed that the anime paired her up with the psychopathic plant duelist.
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If there is one thing I regret from my Gen 5 reviews, is not sharing the awesome "Synchro Dimmension Arc" Opening. So fuck it, posting.
So, look. Gen 6 is a shitshow of colossal proportions, I know I should probably get on with it and do a review of "Decode Talker", but I won't. Not today, I need time to collect my thoughts on Konami forcing the use of a new mechanic and locking all other mechanics behind it, the player backlash that followed, the backtracking, the actual good link support, the problem with Extralinks as a mechanic, and the entire Firewall Dragon debacle, and reach the current healthy state of the game. It's just too big of a roller coaster....So I think, just this once, I´m going to simply remember the simpler times and the most requested card as a little bonus review. This will also let me focus on the "Legendary Dragons" for the next reviews (Alongside Slifer and Obelisk of course)
So Gridlock Pikachu Blindy Cruxist Negaduck Pascal Toxi RadioJoNES, you asked for him, here he is.
Jinzo
Generations 1 & 2: Duel Monsters & GX
Users: Espa Roba, Joey Wheeler, The Big Five, Jinzo Himself
Original Artwork:
Latest Artwork:
During his time in battle city, Joey Wheeler eventually found himself dueling against yet another duelist who claimed to be a psychic but was a total cheat instead, Espa Roba, Espa Roba's ace monster was a Level 6, DARK, Machine-Type monster with one of the simplest, yet deadliest effect for the early game. "Jinzo"
Jinzo's original artwork is just striking, this humanoid cyborg is just standing there, doing nothing but staring and you from the other side of that unnerving mask, the veins popping and throbbing make it clear that whatever this horrible mask is supposed to be for, it's also hurting him, and he doesn't care...His objective is you. The background being a pink mist always give me the idea that seeing him is a nightmare, but also, that he just vaporized a pink trap card and is coming out of the smoke, both interpretations just make me realize how effective of a background it is, and not only that but it plays really well with the green on his armor. Kazuki Takahashi himself designed his second artwork, as you can see by his autograpgh in the lowe right corner, a staple of all the Takahashi Artwork cards. But I don't like it. Much like with Dark Magician I´m not a fan of him always going for black and edgy for OG cards. His pose using thudershock like a Pikachu is nowhere near as good as the thing just...staring at you.
For the game, Jinzo negates all trap cards currently on the field and prevents their activation, this was MASSIVE back in the day, as trap cards were usually your first line of defense against attacks, and with a respectable 2400 ATK for the price of a tribute, Jinzo was damn well worth it. A good Jinzo could end games if summoned at the right time. He's a legend...
That has unfortunately fallen from grace. Trap cards are nowhere near as popular as back in the day, with player playing a max of like 5 traps in their decks and only if they're absolutely neccesary. The rise in popularity of "Hand Traps" (Monsters that activate their effect in your hand during the opponent's turn) such as "Honest" and "Effect Veiler" really hurt his viability.
But the most criminal reason why Jinzo isn't up there with the greats...is a lack of support. For the longest time the only card supporting Jinzo was "Jinzo's Snazzy Party Hat" a card so not worth it it has not being reprinted since release...
After that came a bit of hope with GX's "Jinzo Returner"
This card would attack your opponent directly and revive a Jinzo in your graveyard when it's destroyed, but that just meant exposing yourself to an attack against a weak monster, you could always play him in defense and wait for it to be killed, but that's just slow and too risky.
Jinzo later got an upgraded, more powerful form "Jinzo-Lord"
And not only does it make Jinzo look like shit, but it's a total dead draw if you don't have Jinzo already, and it only provides a burn effect if your opponent controls face-up continous traps...that's too situational.
Then came some GOOD support at the tail end of the 5D's era with
This card let's you summon Jinzo for (almost) free as a response to an opponent's trap! Jinzo will get summoned and their trap will be negated! that's cool....but it requires your opponent to activate a trap, for you to have a spell/trap in your hand to discard, and for Jinzo to be only in your deck...oh man, I was getting excited.
Zexal era came in and gave Jinzo his last known piece of support, the amazing "Jinzo-Jector"
Teenage metalhead Jinzo can be tributed to add Jinzo from your deck to your hand, reveal all cards your opponent has set, and if there is a single trap among them, Jinzo will be special summoned at no cost. If more than 1 trap is revealed, you can summon more cards with "Jinzo" in their name! That's amazing!.
....But that's 1 maybe 2 good cards, compare that to my Dark Magician or Blue-Eyes writeups, it's simply not enough.
But Konami sure likes their gen 1 pandering from time to time, and if the shitty Fairy Tale cards from the fillers got actually printed, Buster Blader has his own deck and lore and Joey support packs are a dime a dozen, I know, deep down, that is only a matter of time for Jinzo to fucking return.
Lowkey one of my favourite monster designs. Gonna be holding onto my First Edition PSV Jinzo for a long time.
Decode Talker
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I couldn't sleep, So I ended up finishing this. Let's get on with Gen 6 already.
Decode Talker
Generation 6: VRAINS
User: Yuzaku Fujiki (a.k.a Playmaker)
Original Artwork:
Latest Artwork:
To properly explain Link monsters, and why they became a restrictive mechanic forced into relevancy, I ask you take a couple minutes of your time to watch their official anouncement video. That should make it clear.
The new rules introduced with Link monsters state that every monster that is summoned from the Extra Deck can now only occupy the "Extra Monster Zone" at the center of the board, that means that effectively you can only have 1 Fusion, Synchro, Xyz or Pendulum monster summoned from the extra deck at a time. You must wait for the zone to be empty before summoning again. Effectively killing a lot of fan favorite decks, no more Synchro spam like Yusei, no more use ALL the summons like Reiji, no more Fusions covering the field like Zane. You get 1.
That is of course unless you play a Link monster there! Link monsters have arrows pointing at the field, when placed in that center zone, their arrows will be pointing at the monster zones, any monster zone being pointed at by an arrow is a monster zone you or your opponent can use for extra deck summons.
That means that summoning more link monsters with arrows pointing to the correct zones will continue unlocking more and more zones for you to swarm with...Link monsters, because if you summon anything else, the unlocking stops. See the problem yet?
Link Monsters are monsters with no level or DEF, that can only be summoned in ATK Position, and can never be changed into defense position. Instead of a level they have a "Rating" which is basically how many arrows they have. Link monsters are summoned to the field by tributing as many monsters as the arrows the link monster has. 3 arrows = must tribute 3 monsters. And they can be summmoned with virtually anything, no need for tuners, polymerization, match the levels or set scales, you can even use Tokens to make them....See the Problem yet?
This effectively forced all players to get Link monsters or...not be able to play their favorite cards, but to make things worse almost all of the initial batch of Link monsters had special requirements that made them only accesible to their new decks or requiring the brand new monster type "Cyberse"....A type of monster which obviously old decks didn't have.
"But what about my old deck that plays lots of fusions? How can I play more than 1?"
That's right, for several excruciating months any old deck was forced to use this LINK-3, DARK, Cyberse-Type Link Monster by tributing 3 cards to have 2 zones to play their favorite extra deck cards and give 1 zone to their opponent. Only way to play more than 1 fusion/synchro/xyz or Pendulum!
So excuse me if I'm not big on Decode Talker, but it's pretty much a reminder of a time where I almost quit my favorite hobby. A defense force at the time insisted that Links made the games "Like the good old days of OG YGO" meanwhile Link spam decks could just flip "Scapegoat" and start swarming the field with High Rating Links with arrow placement that made them useless in non link decks. It was maddening.
Players were pissed, so what does Konami do? Gen 1 Nostalgia products! 2017 was filled of hundreds of "member Kaiba?" products when people just wanted a freaking link to play their favorite deck. Players kept complaining, and Konami had to give in. Since then there's been expansions made entirely of Link monsters that help older decks get their groove back, even my own deck, Galaxy, got link support that made it better than it ever was before the rule change. I would be lying if I said I didn't like them after that.
Still, the damage control was not enough, as Links had a built in feature that gave them pretty much a win condition just by swarming the field. "Extra Link" which I´ll go into detail later. Many like to say that Pendulums were super OP and unfun. But in Gen 5, Ritual, Fusion, Synchro, Xyz, Tribute decks, all had their time to shine despite the supposed "OPness" of Pendulums. Links are not OP by themselves, but they were made into the only option and were given so much power over the game that for a moment, I thought variety was dead forever.
That´s it for shitshow part 1 we´ll come back later. Let's get into talker.
In VRAINS, a VR world for duelists to log in, create an avatar and duel was created for the maximum enjoyment of children's cardgames, in the VR world, there's the bestes player Kirit-err I mean "Playmaker" who in reality is a teenage "hacker" named Yusaku Fujiki, a prick who smolders with generic rage and thirsts for revenge agains the evil "Knights of Hanoi" who terrorize the Cyber Space. Yusaku finds an autonomous AI named Ignis, who the Knights of Hanoi desperately search for...and thus the adventure to find the truth about Ignis and Yusaku's traumatic past begins....and as of 105 episodes Yusaku still hasn't had a single human conversation. Think Goblin Slayer turned YGO protagonist.
Yuzaku:
Playmaker (Avatar in VR world):
Decode Talker is the first victim of the "Everything was Tron" design philosophy in VRAINS. Which I hate. He looks so lame despite having a cool armor, I feel like the pose just kills it, it looks like it's ready to swing it's sword but it doesn't look that good. It just feels like the pose somehow kills what is an actually good design. The 2nd artwork is much more better, it has more energy and a pose that makes Decode look so much cooler in there, he looks like card I would play! Really cool background too. It has that energy that I love as opposed to OG artwork's "Computer stuff" background
Decode Talker gains 500 ATK for each monster it's pointing at, and has the ability to tribute those monsters to negate an effect that would target a monster. Solid Effects that could get you either a good beater or a defensive play against destruction effects, but not worth the price of 3 of your monsters, so there's better options if you want to....Oh wait no there weren't!!
TRIVIA TIME!
Decode Talker cannot tribute an opponent's monster it points to for it's own effect, you can only tribute your own monsters, unless a card specifically allows you to tribute your opponent's
Also, Originally the plot of VRAINS would focus on Yusaku being a total newbie, learning to love the game little by little, but they changed course because the production was a mess, and made him the bestest ever instead.
Decode Talker
Generation 6: VRAINS
User: Yuzaku Fujiki (a.k.a Playmaker)
Original Artwork:
Latest Artwork:
To properly explain Link monsters, and why they became a restrictive mechanic forced into relevancy, I ask you take a couple minutes of your time to watch their official anouncement video. That should make it clear.
The new rules introduced with Link monsters state that every monster that is summoned from the Extra Deck can now only occupy the "Extra Monster Zone" at the center of the board, that means that effectively you can only have 1 Fusion, Synchro, Xyz or Pendulum monster summoned from the extra deck at a time. You must wait for the zone to be empty before summoning again. Effectively killing a lot of fan favorite decks, no more Synchro spam like Yusei, no more use ALL the summons like Reiji, no more Fusions covering the field like Zane. You get 1.
That is of course unless you play a Link monster there! Link monsters have arrows pointing at the field, when placed in that center zone, their arrows will be pointing at the monster zones, any monster zone being pointed at by an arrow is a monster zone you or your opponent can use for extra deck summons.
That means that summoning more link monsters with arrows pointing to the correct zones will continue unlocking more and more zones for you to swarm with...Link monsters, because if you summon anything else, the unlocking stops. See the problem yet?
Link Monsters are monsters with no level or DEF, that can only be summoned in ATK Position, and can never be changed into defense position. Instead of a level they have a "Rating" which is basically how many arrows they have. Link monsters are summoned to the field by tributing as many monsters as the arrows the link monster has. 3 arrows = must tribute 3 monsters. And they can be summmoned with virtually anything, no need for tuners, polymerization, match the levels or set scales, you can even use Tokens to make them....See the Problem yet?
This effectively forced all players to get Link monsters or...not be able to play their favorite cards, but to make things worse almost all of the initial batch of Link monsters had special requirements that made them only accesible to their new decks or requiring the brand new monster type "Cyberse"....A type of monster which obviously old decks didn't have.
"But what about my old deck that plays lots of fusions? How can I play more than 1?"
That's right, for several excruciating months any old deck was forced to use this LINK-3, DARK, Cyberse-Type Link Monster by tributing 3 cards to have 2 zones to play their favorite extra deck cards and give 1 zone to their opponent. Only way to play more than 1 fusion/synchro/xyz or Pendulum!
So excuse me if I'm not big on Decode Talker, but it's pretty much a reminder of a time where I almost quit my favorite hobby. A defense force at the time insisted that Links made the games "Like the good old days of OG YGO" meanwhile Link spam decks could just flip "Scapegoat" and start swarming the field with High Rating Links with arrow placement that made them useless in non link decks. It was maddening.
Players were pissed, so what does Konami do? Gen 1 Nostalgia products! 2017 was filled of hundreds of "member Kaiba?" products when people just wanted a freaking link to play their favorite deck. Players kept complaining, and Konami had to give in. Since then there's been expansions made entirely of Link monsters that help older decks get their groove back, even my own deck, Galaxy, got link support that made it better than it ever was before the rule change. I would be lying if I said I didn't like them after that.
Still, the damage control was not enough, as Links had a built in feature that gave them pretty much a win condition just by swarming the field. "Extra Link" which I´ll go into detail later. Many like to say that Pendulums were super OP and unfun. But in Gen 5, Ritual, Fusion, Synchro, Xyz, Tribute decks, all had their time to shine despite the supposed "OPness" of Pendulums. Links are not OP by themselves, but they were made into the only option and were given so much power over the game that for a moment, I thought variety was dead forever.
That´s it for shitshow part 1 we´ll come back later. Let's get into talker.
In VRAINS, a VR world for duelists to log in, create an avatar and duel was created for the maximum enjoyment of children's cardgames, in the VR world, there's the bestes player Kirit-err I mean "Playmaker" who in reality is a teenage "hacker" named Yusaku Fujiki, a prick who smolders with generic rage and thirsts for revenge agains the evil "Knights of Hanoi" who terrorize the Cyber Space. Yusaku finds an autonomous AI named Ignis, who the Knights of Hanoi desperately search for...and thus the adventure to find the truth about Ignis and Yusaku's traumatic past begins....and as of 105 episodes Yusaku still hasn't had a single human conversation. Think Goblin Slayer turned YGO protagonist.
Yuzaku:
Playmaker (Avatar in VR world):
Decode Talker is the first victim of the "Everything was Tron" design philosophy in VRAINS. Which I hate. He looks so lame despite having a cool armor, I feel like the pose just kills it, it looks like it's ready to swing it's sword but it doesn't look that good. It just feels like the pose somehow kills what is an actually good design. The 2nd artwork is much more better, it has more energy and a pose that makes Decode look so much cooler in there, he looks like card I would play! Really cool background too. It has that energy that I love as opposed to OG artwork's "Computer stuff" background
Decode Talker gains 500 ATK for each monster it's pointing at, and has the ability to tribute those monsters to negate an effect that would target a monster. Solid Effects that could get you either a good beater or a defensive play against destruction effects, but not worth the price of 3 of your monsters, so there's better options if you want to....Oh wait no there weren't!!
TRIVIA TIME!
Decode Talker cannot tribute an opponent's monster it points to for it's own effect, you can only tribute your own monsters, unless a card specifically allows you to tribute your opponent's
Also, Originally the plot of VRAINS would focus on Yusaku being a total newbie, learning to love the game little by little, but they changed course because the production was a mess, and made him the bestest ever instead.
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I am not sure if I have missed anything, but did you tackle Polymerization? I felt that it's pretty popular as a Fusion enabler, but seeing as it's not being touched on during the Gen 1 time and the Gen 2 time, nor even the Gen 5 time, I presume it's not popular enough to warrant a spot?
Also, I am a bit biased here, but I find it interesting that Gong Strong's card is not mentioned even though he had regular appearances in Arc-V, yet quite a number of other Generations have had their cards mentioned such as Syrus and Chumley (the latter being far less prominent than Gong Strong even among the series). I would love to hear what you have to say about Superheavy Samurai, which sounds like an interesting concept that I would like to try out in Legacy of the Duelist when I had the chance. To a lesser extent Sawatari's card not being mentioned is surprising as well, but I guess he had a lot of archetypes even though Abyss Actor is the one that he stuck with for the rest of the show since he started using it.
The addition of Links is indeed such a disappointing development to the game, because it being practically a requirement made it so limiting. What I mean is, every card is still part of the Extra Deck limit, but now that Links have "invaded" the deck, there is less room for a full Synchro/Xyz/Fusion Extra Deck only because of how necessary they are if you want to have more than 1 Extra Monster on your side, unless the opponent has a monster with arrows pointing to your side. In fact, their "invasion" leads to certain archetypes gaining Link Monsters especially if the deck is centered around Extra Deck summoning, like HEROs and Synchrons. I guess they are easy to summon which is good, but the game may never be the same again since this change is not an additive element to the game.
Thank you for reading.
Also, I am a bit biased here, but I find it interesting that Gong Strong's card is not mentioned even though he had regular appearances in Arc-V, yet quite a number of other Generations have had their cards mentioned such as Syrus and Chumley (the latter being far less prominent than Gong Strong even among the series). I would love to hear what you have to say about Superheavy Samurai, which sounds like an interesting concept that I would like to try out in Legacy of the Duelist when I had the chance. To a lesser extent Sawatari's card not being mentioned is surprising as well, but I guess he had a lot of archetypes even though Abyss Actor is the one that he stuck with for the rest of the show since he started using it.
The addition of Links is indeed such a disappointing development to the game, because it being practically a requirement made it so limiting. What I mean is, every card is still part of the Extra Deck limit, but now that Links have "invaded" the deck, there is less room for a full Synchro/Xyz/Fusion Extra Deck only because of how necessary they are if you want to have more than 1 Extra Monster on your side, unless the opponent has a monster with arrows pointing to your side. In fact, their "invasion" leads to certain archetypes gaining Link Monsters especially if the deck is centered around Extra Deck summoning, like HEROs and Synchrons. I guess they are easy to summon which is good, but the game may never be the same again since this change is not an additive element to the game.
Thank you for reading.
i almost want to watch this show for this character, but i tried watching it already and wasnt digging it
Aki is great. Don't be afraid to try again if you feel like it.
The most annoying thing about it is that when they were revealed there was a huge contigent of players who were okay with it because it would "slow the game down", some of which were actually supposedly good players. I'm not even a good player myself and I couldn't believe someone would say that with a straight face. Link themselves are stupid easy to summon, it was clear that they were designed to overcentralize the game and become a paywall for older decks. No new mechanic ever introduced was designed like this. You could argue they were always a sign of powercreep, but the early Arc-V era had every summoning method featured in a high tier deck, so Konami can power creep any mechanic they want. Links, however? That was plain stupid and greedy.
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I think the last time I played YGO was when the big zombie support deck came out with Vampire Lord, and then zombie master and pot of avarice a bit later. Loooong time ago. With that stuff, you could create a deck where stuff would just be streaming out of the graveyard, it was so fun. Then I got out of the habit because of a lack of time.
when I watch the newest tv series it doesn't feel like something I'd want to play anymore.
when I watch the newest tv series it doesn't feel like something I'd want to play anymore.
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It's more of a "Yusei Support" card, but yes.
And I too like Decode Talker's design. 2nd Artwork all the way though.
I can see your issue with Yusaku but to be fair it's a bit unfair to leave out the fact he was kidnapped as a child for months where he was forced to duel in order to eat and not be electrocuted.
Honestly I like when they focus on him just being a big jerk and dislike the moments where he's oddly heroic and self-sacrificing. Those don't seem "earned", at least not by Episode 30 or so where I'm at.
The show probably would've been better if they made Yusaku a straight-up psycho like Spectre though.
Honestly I like when they focus on him just being a big jerk and dislike the moments where he's oddly heroic and self-sacrificing. Those don't seem "earned", at least not by Episode 30 or so where I'm at.
The show probably would've been better if they made Yusaku a straight-up psycho like Spectre though.
He goes full "friends are my power" in season 2 for unexplained reasons.
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I'm all for damaged characters, but it's been a whooping 105 episodes and he's still the same as in episode 1. Just know, after what happened in the climax, he for no reason at all went all "Power of friendship!". Friendship where he hasn't talked to the main female character except to sell her hotdogs...And she still doesn't even know he's Playmaker. It's been 105 episodes.
This is the most interaction Yusaku has had with his friends....after 103 episodes and a giant battle.
Spoilers:
It's not ok.
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vrains biggest issue imo is that it lacks real filler episodes dedicated to character interaction rather than plot. Hopefully s3 will improve this, but I doubt it
Sorry for the late reply but for the beginning I would recommend building around those two cards
Aromage Bergamott is also highly recommended.
But basically what the deck does for me is:
- pushing out ridiculous amounts of damage while
- healing as well as doing all kinds of different crazy side effects.
As I said before, I'm not done building the deck since i'm playing in Duel Links and it's honestly not fun getting a hold of those cards there since they are not available in Boosters.
But as of right now, running 80% Aromages coupled with a few other plant based cards works great. The synergy isn't completely there yet, but hey: That's why I said it's incomplete! :)
Edit :
I see. Glad I wasn't around then. But tbh, I still feel like I wouldn't enjoy playing Links
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Is there Much support for the Silent Magician and Silent Swordsman cards? I've played with them in Duel Links and it was fun but seems a bit limited.
Firewall Dragon
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Firewall Dragon
Generation 6: VRAINS
User: Yuzaku Fujiki (a.k.a Playmaker)
Artwork:
This. Fucking. Card.
With the power of his new AI companion Yusaku (as "Playmaker") is able to reach new powers and cards, which he uses to fight against the Knights of Hanoi while uncovering the truth about his traumatic childhood, where he was kidnapped and forced to duel for months, leaving him a broken shell of a man. In VRAINS, most duels are played in "Speed Duel" format, which is basically the format used in the game "Duel Links", what better way to showcase monsters whose power is pointing at zones on the field than to use them in a format with less zones on the field? Pure genius I tell you.
Much like in Duel Links, when Yusaku plays a speed duel, he has access to a "Skill", and his is skill is that whenever his LP is 1000 or less, he can add a random Cyberse monster to his Extra Deck. This is basically his way to Deus Ex Machina every duel. Every single one of his duels is him getting down to 1000 and getting a new card to win. This happens in other shows but it's even more boring when they literaly tell you it will always happen at a specific point of the duel. Firewall Dragon is supposed to be his 2500 ATK ace, but in the show, it's treated as just one more of the dozens of cards he pulls out of his ass to win. There's no reverence or plot importance given to Firewall Dragon. Firewall it's not the spirit of an ancient egyptian servant, not a card Yusaku designed and sent to space, not one of 5 legendary peruvian dragons, not the main out of 100 legendary Numbers, not one of 4 Dimensional Dragons...It's just...a card. And Yusaku's ace has had a whooping FIVE appereances in the show (In episodes 11, 18, 46, 63 and 82....out of 105 episodes total)....Yusaku gets so much shit with all his duels ending the same, that there is zero reason to care about Firewall or think it's special to him or the plot in anyway.
Firewall Dragon is a LINK-4, LIGHT, Cyberse-Type Monster that is Stardust Dragon....but Tron. Like eveything in Vrains, what if Kuriboh but Tron?, how about Dark Magician but Tron?, you'll love Gaia but Tron!. All of Yusaku's cards look so samey and flat out boring it's maddening....Where's the vibrant color? Where's the energy? Nowhere to be found. That said I do think Decode Talker and Firewall are the best looking of the bunch. I like Firewall Dragon's pose and I SPECIALLY like that it changes colors when it attacks. The card leaves an impression with it's slick design and cool looking armor full of discs...I just wish it was just it that looks like that and not every single one of Yusaku's monsters. In it's limited appeareances in the show, it always manages to look cool...
Yeah, all of the 5 times it's ever used.
Firewall Dragon is the sole responsible of shitshow part 2, which I will now explain.
Not happy with having Links paywall your favorite cards and take over your Extra Deck, Konami later revealed that links have a special rule called "Extra Link" which allowed a player to STEAL THE OTHER PLAYER'S EXTRA MONSTER ZONE By creating a bridge of link monsters all pointing at each other which also pointed at the opponent's zone, that would let you use their zone for the summon of a link who also gets to be pointing at the previous monster's arrow. That's right Links are not only the only Extra Deck monsters that are spammable now, but they also could lock you out of your Extra Deck if they d spam! But it's ok, Konami said achieving that would be super hard!....LMAO. Extra Link is a buit-in instant win condition. That's what it is.
And Firewall Dragon made things much, much worse.Both of Firewall Dragon's effect are Super busted, it's effect let's you bounce cards on the field up to the numbers of links that are "Co-Linked" to it (Which means that they're pointing at each other), this effect can only be used once. Also whenever a card next to it's arrows goes to the graveyard, you get to special summon a monster from your hand, any monsters, everytime that happens. And remember, you can just flip Joey's good ol' "Scapegoat" and get the 4 monsters you need for a Firewall dragon...See the problem yet?
So you could summon firewall, start abusing it's effect to summon monsters everytime a card leaves a zone it points at, and start building your Extra Link bridge with 3 Firewall Dragons, which will all be co-linked, meaning their first effect would let them bounce 2-3 cards each....All while your opponent is locked out of the Extra Deck.
Players complained and demanded Firewall Dragon to be banned, seriously just search "Ban Firewall Dragon" on youtube or the hashtag #BanFirewall on twitter. But that was not enough, oh no. Konami then released "Topologic Gumblar Dragon" a card that rewarded you even further for achieving an extra link by taking cards out of your opponent's hand and doing burning damage....All while you already had locked the opponent out of their Extra Deck.
Players were furious, and demanded the ban of the cards, however Konami didn't want to ban their little "Ace Monster"...after all, think of all that merchandise that already has the beloved Firewall Dragon in it? People loved Firewall Dragon! It's such an iconic card with its five appearances!
So what does Konami do? It starts banning every fan favorite card that dares combo with their little marketing machine. Even "Scapegoat" eventually got hit with a limitation to 1 per deck. And that just made players even angrier. Just #BanFirewall Dammit! Konami eventually "Limited" Firewall Dragon to 1 per deck....but it was so broken that it and Gumblar Dragon kept dominating.
November last year, they finally pulled the trigger. Firewall Dragon and Topologic Gumblar Dragon are banned for play in the TCG and OCG. No other card rewarding Extra Link has been made and all products regarding Yusaku immediately switched to have "Decode Talker" as if it was his ace all along. (And TBH, it IS more deserving of the title) Effectively making Yusaku the first YGO protagonist without a true 2500 ATK Ace card.
Even the latest OP of the show gives far more importance to Talker over OG Firewall. (Edit: Just realized that's NOT OG Firewall, lol)
Firewall received a new form at the end of VRAINS season 2, where Konami was all in an "I´m sorry I fucked up mode" and featured Yusaku and his....companions (I wouldn't call them friends) suddenly remembering that Rituals, Fusion, Synchro and Xyz are a thing...As such firewall got a new version that rewards the player for using old summoning methods, "Firewall Dragon Dark Fluid" which has just being anounced.
So that card gets it's power from Yusaku's old summon method cards he suddenly discovered were an option
LMAO.
Turns out players actually liked the Extra Deck mechanics they've been naturally introducing and supporting for 20 years, who could've guessed?
Since then, Links have also taken on a supporting role for old decks, they are now enablers to your fusion/Synchro/Xyz/Pendulum plays that at worst are a minor inconvenience and at best made your plays better than ever (Like my Galaxy Xyz!). An effort is being made to give a powerful link to all classic and fan favorite decks and expansions such as "Sisters of the Rose" where characters get new cards to play in the new era are commonplace.
The Link Shitshow was the lowest point in my YGO hobby experience. And a tragedy I can only hope we learned from.
Trivia Time!
Firewall Dragon has 2 other artworks that haven't been released in the TCG since there's no point anymore.
Next up! The worst female character in the franchise!
Generation 6: VRAINS
User: Yuzaku Fujiki (a.k.a Playmaker)
Artwork:
This. Fucking. Card.
With the power of his new AI companion Yusaku (as "Playmaker") is able to reach new powers and cards, which he uses to fight against the Knights of Hanoi while uncovering the truth about his traumatic childhood, where he was kidnapped and forced to duel for months, leaving him a broken shell of a man. In VRAINS, most duels are played in "Speed Duel" format, which is basically the format used in the game "Duel Links", what better way to showcase monsters whose power is pointing at zones on the field than to use them in a format with less zones on the field? Pure genius I tell you.
Much like in Duel Links, when Yusaku plays a speed duel, he has access to a "Skill", and his is skill is that whenever his LP is 1000 or less, he can add a random Cyberse monster to his Extra Deck. This is basically his way to Deus Ex Machina every duel. Every single one of his duels is him getting down to 1000 and getting a new card to win. This happens in other shows but it's even more boring when they literaly tell you it will always happen at a specific point of the duel. Firewall Dragon is supposed to be his 2500 ATK ace, but in the show, it's treated as just one more of the dozens of cards he pulls out of his ass to win. There's no reverence or plot importance given to Firewall Dragon. Firewall it's not the spirit of an ancient egyptian servant, not a card Yusaku designed and sent to space, not one of 5 legendary peruvian dragons, not the main out of 100 legendary Numbers, not one of 4 Dimensional Dragons...It's just...a card. And Yusaku's ace has had a whooping FIVE appereances in the show (In episodes 11, 18, 46, 63 and 82....out of 105 episodes total)....Yusaku gets so much shit with all his duels ending the same, that there is zero reason to care about Firewall or think it's special to him or the plot in anyway.
Firewall Dragon is a LINK-4, LIGHT, Cyberse-Type Monster that is Stardust Dragon....but Tron. Like eveything in Vrains, what if Kuriboh but Tron?, how about Dark Magician but Tron?, you'll love Gaia but Tron!. All of Yusaku's cards look so samey and flat out boring it's maddening....Where's the vibrant color? Where's the energy? Nowhere to be found. That said I do think Decode Talker and Firewall are the best looking of the bunch. I like Firewall Dragon's pose and I SPECIALLY like that it changes colors when it attacks. The card leaves an impression with it's slick design and cool looking armor full of discs...I just wish it was just it that looks like that and not every single one of Yusaku's monsters. In it's limited appeareances in the show, it always manages to look cool...
Yeah, all of the 5 times it's ever used.
Firewall Dragon is the sole responsible of shitshow part 2, which I will now explain.
Not happy with having Links paywall your favorite cards and take over your Extra Deck, Konami later revealed that links have a special rule called "Extra Link" which allowed a player to STEAL THE OTHER PLAYER'S EXTRA MONSTER ZONE By creating a bridge of link monsters all pointing at each other which also pointed at the opponent's zone, that would let you use their zone for the summon of a link who also gets to be pointing at the previous monster's arrow. That's right Links are not only the only Extra Deck monsters that are spammable now, but they also could lock you out of your Extra Deck if they d spam! But it's ok, Konami said achieving that would be super hard!....LMAO. Extra Link is a buit-in instant win condition. That's what it is.
And Firewall Dragon made things much, much worse.Both of Firewall Dragon's effect are Super busted, it's effect let's you bounce cards on the field up to the numbers of links that are "Co-Linked" to it (Which means that they're pointing at each other), this effect can only be used once. Also whenever a card next to it's arrows goes to the graveyard, you get to special summon a monster from your hand, any monsters, everytime that happens. And remember, you can just flip Joey's good ol' "Scapegoat" and get the 4 monsters you need for a Firewall dragon...See the problem yet?
So you could summon firewall, start abusing it's effect to summon monsters everytime a card leaves a zone it points at, and start building your Extra Link bridge with 3 Firewall Dragons, which will all be co-linked, meaning their first effect would let them bounce 2-3 cards each....All while your opponent is locked out of the Extra Deck.
Players complained and demanded Firewall Dragon to be banned, seriously just search "Ban Firewall Dragon" on youtube or the hashtag #BanFirewall on twitter. But that was not enough, oh no. Konami then released "Topologic Gumblar Dragon" a card that rewarded you even further for achieving an extra link by taking cards out of your opponent's hand and doing burning damage....All while you already had locked the opponent out of their Extra Deck.
Players were furious, and demanded the ban of the cards, however Konami didn't want to ban their little "Ace Monster"...after all, think of all that merchandise that already has the beloved Firewall Dragon in it? People loved Firewall Dragon! It's such an iconic card with its five appearances!
So what does Konami do? It starts banning every fan favorite card that dares combo with their little marketing machine. Even "Scapegoat" eventually got hit with a limitation to 1 per deck. And that just made players even angrier. Just #BanFirewall Dammit! Konami eventually "Limited" Firewall Dragon to 1 per deck....but it was so broken that it and Gumblar Dragon kept dominating.
November last year, they finally pulled the trigger. Firewall Dragon and Topologic Gumblar Dragon are banned for play in the TCG and OCG. No other card rewarding Extra Link has been made and all products regarding Yusaku immediately switched to have "Decode Talker" as if it was his ace all along. (And TBH, it IS more deserving of the title) Effectively making Yusaku the first YGO protagonist without a true 2500 ATK Ace card.
Even the latest OP of the show gives far more importance to Talker over OG Firewall. (Edit: Just realized that's NOT OG Firewall, lol)
Firewall received a new form at the end of VRAINS season 2, where Konami was all in an "I´m sorry I fucked up mode" and featured Yusaku and his....companions (I wouldn't call them friends) suddenly remembering that Rituals, Fusion, Synchro and Xyz are a thing...As such firewall got a new version that rewards the player for using old summoning methods, "Firewall Dragon Dark Fluid" which has just being anounced.
So that card gets it's power from Yusaku's old summon method cards he suddenly discovered were an option
LMAO.
Turns out players actually liked the Extra Deck mechanics they've been naturally introducing and supporting for 20 years, who could've guessed?
Since then, Links have also taken on a supporting role for old decks, they are now enablers to your fusion/Synchro/Xyz/Pendulum plays that at worst are a minor inconvenience and at best made your plays better than ever (Like my Galaxy Xyz!). An effort is being made to give a powerful link to all classic and fan favorite decks and expansions such as "Sisters of the Rose" where characters get new cards to play in the new era are commonplace.
The Link Shitshow was the lowest point in my YGO hobby experience. And a tragedy I can only hope we learned from.
Trivia Time!
Firewall Dragon has 2 other artworks that haven't been released in the TCG since there's no point anymore.
Next up! The worst female character in the franchise!
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question about the link monsters.
so you tribute 1 per link to summon them. some of them are like "link-3" and then also say "2+ effect monsters" in the body of the card. i assume that means "2 or more of the things you sacrifice must be effect monsters."
then... does that "2+monsters" on firewall mean anything? it's already a link-4
also wait these are extra-deck cards? you can just throw these down the second you have space and any ol' pile of sacrifices? people thought this would slow the game down?
so you tribute 1 per link to summon them. some of them are like "link-3" and then also say "2+ effect monsters" in the body of the card. i assume that means "2 or more of the things you sacrifice must be effect monsters."
then... does that "2+monsters" on firewall mean anything? it's already a link-4
also wait these are extra-deck cards? you can just throw these down the second you have space and any ol' pile of sacrifices? people thought this would slow the game down?
OP
OP
Arrows you paid for to summon another link monster previously will count when you pay for a new Link.
That means a LINK-2 and another random monster can get you a LINK-3
When you read "2+, effect monsters" it means that the minimum amount of Monsters that can be used for the summon is 2, and all of them must be effect monsters.
And yes. They're extra deck monsters. "The slow the game down" thing was the main argument of the defense force that insisted Links were good because they were killing the dirty new Summon methods and would bring the glory of Gen 1 back.
Any decent player saw the shitshow coming from a mile away.
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I just wanted to say extra linking is a stupid and completely unintuitive mechanic and I have no idea why anyone one thought it'd be a good idea
Yeah the Extra Link is a mistake.
Honestly it's one of my biggest issues with Links besides all of 2017 and a chunk of 2018.
I get your Tron complaints, but I do like the little, cute (original) monsters Yusaku uses that are based on various computer stuff like Bit Trooper.
Also earlier you mentioned how you think we might see the next big card-type involve using "mana", I'm very interested in what you mean by that and how you picture it working.
Also earlier you mentioned how you think we might see the next big card-type involve using "mana", I'm very interested in what you mean by that and how you picture it working.
OP
OP
Well basically I imagine they won't want to fuck up the extra deck any more.
So I'm picturing a scenario where the new summon method includes a new update for the board with a "mana zone" where you put resources that would come into play when summoning.
For example a card that needs 2 continuous spells in the "Mana Zone" to be summoned from the hand.
But that's probably too harmless and not busted enough
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