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 |  Subject: Official Sabers -September 2010- Discussion Thread  Thu Sep 02, 2010 2:05 pm | |
| | Quote: | Originally Posted by Proteininja
Deck Analysis
Introduction
When I feel that the format has solidified, I am getting into the habit of writing a deck analysis. This article is an analysis of the strategy of X-Sabers as a whole and their match-ups with other popular decks in the format. This analysis is in no way the absolute truth. It is my opinion. I am taking the time to write this to help beginner X-Saber duelists learn the basics of our deck.
Monsters
XX-Saber Faultroll
This card is the boss monster of the deck. He is the main source of advantage generation. Using your turn priority on his effect guarantees that your opponent will -1 themselves by using Bottomless Trap Hole, and now that darksoul is out you can just search another faultroll after you synchro. The reason Faultroll is run at 3 is because you need him to win, but you do not necessarily want 3 in hand. This situation can be very good or very bad, but one faultroll on the field at a time is optimal. You will need 2 faultroll, 1 ragigura, and a tuner in order to perform the infinite hand loop. This is one of the only times I bring out two faultrolls other than when I am trying to attack for game. Having only one faultroll out at a time keeps space open for synchroing and XX-Saber Gottoms' effect. Faultroll's level is perfect for synchroing into gottoms, but I tend to use hyunlei more often than faultroll for that purpose.
number of copies: 3
XX-Saber Darksoul
This is the card that pushed Sabers up to tier 1. Its no good for attacking, and only blocks one attack, but who cares? It can search faultroll or any other saber during the endphase when attacked, synchroed, or destroyed. In addition to his ease of use his effect was ruled to stack, so sending the same copy multiple times will yield multiple searches in the endphase. The only downsides to this card are its abysmal attack and the fact that it searches during the endphase. On the one hand it is nice that the card you are searching is protected from Hand Destruction, but you cannot perform brionac loops like zombies because of this restriction. He is also a Rescue Cat target.
number of copies: 3
XX-Saber Emmersblade
Emmersblade fulfills several roles and enables several plays that could not be possible without it. First, Emmersblade maintains field advantage on its own. This is an important trait because the only other card that can promise this is X-Saber Pashuul. However while pashuul is holding the field he does not fill the grave or have the capability of searching darksoul. Emmersblade's ability to stall while setting up the deck makes him uniquely powerful. He is like the glue of the deck in that he fulfills almost every setup condition in the deck by himself. He puts sabers in the grave for e-call and faultroll. He searches darksoul who can search faultroll. He can search a tuner to allow a Rescue Cat to bring double darksoul. In a deck with no draw power, search power is king.
number of copies: 2-3
X-Saber Airbellum
At this time, Airbellum is one of the best tuners in yugioh. He can minus the opponent when the field is left open, and is a Rescue Cat target. He should be run at 3 not only to guarantee consistency with Rescue Cat, but also because early mind and Brain Control plays using airbellum can devastate the opponent's strategy.
number of copies: 3
XX-Saber Fulhelmknight
Fulhelmknight has two very useful effects. The first effect to negate an attack can be used after fautroll is brought out to limit the opponent's recovery options. It is nice on the very first turn also, but in a format where smashing, book, and Cyber Dragon are so common there is no guarantee he will be able to hold the field on his own. Fulhelmknight's second effect punishes the opponent for setting low attack monsters like emmersblade or Dandylion. It is a poor opening, but when the opportunity presents itself this card can be very powerful. You can force fulhelm's effect with book, but remember that this is not a plus. If you use this trick to bring out a card that generates advantage, then it is a different story.
number of copies: 2
XX-Saber Boggart Knight
Boggart Knight is our only true beater. His synchro restriction is effective at keeping him from being used in that regard, but if you run X-Saber Pashuul, then synchroing for hyunlei is no sweat. His effect to special summon is directly in line with the saber strategy of bringing two sabers to the field. The only problem is that it requires you to have another level 4 or lower saber in hand. This generally doesn't become an issue, but if the grave isn't setup with a tuner or darksoul you will need to have the other half of that duo in hand in order to justify using this card.
number of copies: 2-3
XX-Saber Ragigura
This monster used in conjunction with Boggart knight while faultroll is in the grave is one of the greatest recoveries the deck is capable of. It allows you to synchro for gottoms attack with all three and then -2 your opponent from the hand by tributing ragi and boggart. Ragigura is the only card that can allow you to reuse destroyed or synchroed faultrolls. He also makes the card One for One into an powerful combo engine. With ragigura One for One allows you to trade a monster in hand for a saber in grave while special summoning a saber to the field. Ragigura is also necessary to perform the infinite hand loop
number of copies: 1-2
X-Saber Pashuul
X-Saber Pashuul can be used to stall, synchro for level 8's via stealing 6's, using faultroll, or using hyunlei, and synchro for hyunlei with boggart knight. He allows several plays that would otherwise be impossible were he not in the deck. Also, running two copies of this card with 2 to three copies of fulhelmknight will allow you to run ROTA and Reinforce Truth.
number of copies: 0-2
Rescue Cat
This is the most explosive card in the deck, however it is currently banned. It can bring out darksoul and airbellum to satisfy the requirements of faultroll, and can also be used to bring out two darksoul to guarantee no loss of advantage when a bottomless is read.
number of copies: 1
Other acceptable monsters
Sangan
Giant Rat
Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
Morphing Jar
Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter
Super-Nimble Mega Hamster
Meta techs(D.D. Crow, Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, etc)
Spells and Traps
Book of Moon
This card is extremely good at this point in the format. It can be used to book Infernity Archfiend to stop the loop. It can also be used to hurt prisma glads when they try to attack or go for Test Tiger plays. It murders in the mirror match as two face up sabers are required to summon faultroll. The only match ups that it is less than stellar in are monarchs and gadgets, but it still serves a nice purpose there, and siding can always solve that problem.
number of copies: 2-3
Gottoms' Emergency Call
This is the only source of reliable advantage generation for x-sabers that does not revolve around faultroll. It can be used for many purposes, but most notably can be chained to back row destruction to punish the opponent. It can also immediately fulfill the requirements of faultroll, and can be used with ragigura to bring him to hand at the same time.
number of copies: 2-3
Spell and Trap Defense
Giant Trunade
Cold Wave
Mystical Space Typhoon
Trap Stun
My Body as a Shield
Dust Tornado
The plays in this deck are prone to being shut down by back rows. Use these card to overcome that weakness. A player should can run anywhere from 6-8 of the above cards based on preference. It is important to defend ourselves from spells and traps since we do not have easy access to 8's for stardust.
Offensive Spells
Dark Hole
Monster Reborn
Mind Control
One for One
These are the offensive spells of the deck. Mind can be used with any of the five tuners to remove threats from the opponents side of the field and synchro them. They are more live in the monarch matchup if you run pashuul. Slash is simple face up destruction. It can be hurt by Book of Moon, but can also remove many threats from the opponents field. One for One is like Emergency Teleport and Monster Reincarnation rolled into one when used with ragigura. It can help satisfy faultroll's requirement, but can be dead with no monsters in hand. This can also be said of boggart knight, so it is no reason to stop running the card. There are many other cards that can be run in the offensive spell slots listed below.
Defensive Traps
Bottomless Trap Hole
Mirror Force
Torrential Tribute
Cards like these help to hinder my opponents' plays while allowing me to commit very few cards in the deck to defense. Some may call them staples, but I remain open minded. There are many other cards that can be run in these slots to great success. The important thing is to remember that x-sabers are an offense oriented deck so it is best to include defensive spells and traps which can work on their own, and you will probably want them to be chain-able to destruction because of how fast the format has become.
Other acceptable spells and traps
Solemn Judgment
Saber Slash
Reinforcement of the Army
Smashing Ground
Lightning Vortex
Reinforce Truth
Trap Dustshoot
Mind Crush
Starlight Road
Call Of The Haunted
Dimensional Prison
Compulsory Evacuation Device
I wanted to keep this out of the analysis because it is highly opinionated, but since this post is separate from the analysis in the OP i thought I would post it. I am not trying to start an argument. This is my opinion, and in no way is intended to be interpreted as the absolute truth
Saber Hole
This card has popped up in many top saber decks as of late. This causes people to question whether or not it is a good choice in the deck. The effect seems powerful, and it is, in the right situation. Saber Hole's ability to stop any inherent summon is sufficiently powerful to shut down most comebacks by an opponent before they start. Many people view it as the saber equivalent of Gladiator Beast War Chariot, but this is not an accurate view. War Chariot is just as powerful if not more, it is the same spell speed, and has the same activation requirement. So, if glads run their version in competitive play, then why shouldn't we? There are several discrepancies that prevent Saber Hole from being a truly viable option in the deck during this format.
1. Saber Hole requires a face-up monster to activate.
With so many monsters to set in the deck it is hard to make Saber Hole active in the first few turns. A player usually won't summon monsters face up until they are about to summon faultroll. Once they get faultroll out they really don't need to protect their field from a comeback. This is because we have darksoul. We can search our recovery cards to hand during the time we have faultroll on the field. It is better to let the opponent use up his hand, commit to the field, and disassemble your own field while you have a recovery in hand. If you use Saber Hole to shut down your opponent's recovery, then he will stop his play and keep a few extra cards in hand. He will then probably set some cards to hinder your recovery, and remain prepared for your next attack. If you let the opponent use his hand to fuel brionac or use other effects, then you can destroy him when you recover the very next turn with the cards you searched.
Another issue with this restriction is that Book of Moon, Mind Control, Brain Control, Smashing Ground, Lightning Vortex, and fissure all make this card completely dead. These cards are not unheard of in the competitive scene. Saber Hole is also stopped by the standard s/t destruction players run in addition to these cards.
2. Saber Hole only stops inherent special summons.
This means that Saber Hole cannot stop summons that occur during the resolution of an effect. Some examples of very important plays that Saber Hole cannot stop follow.
* Gladiator Beast tag ins
* Summons by the effects of Infernity Necromancer, Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, or XX-Saber Faultroll
* Summons by battle searchers
* Summons by the effects of cards like Call Of The Haunted, One for One, Emergency Teleport, or Infernity Launcher
With infernities and glads running around everywhere a duelist cannot afford to run a card that is so ineffective against their very common plays.
3. Saber Hole cannot eliminate a threat that is already on the field.
This is another difference between war chariot and Saber Hole. War chariot can eliminate threats even after they are summoned, and Saber Hole cannot.
4. Saber Hole is a one time use card.
This is true of almost all cards in yugioh, but is important to mention to further separate Saber Hole from war chariot. The reason war chariot is run in glads is because it can be recycled. If ragigura allowed Saber Hole to be brought to the hand I would run it in a second. Sadly, he cannot do this. If equeste could only bring glad beast monsters to the hand you would never see glad beasts war chariot again in high competition even if it is better than Saber Hole. You probably wouldn't see a glad deck anywhere in competition if this were true. It is not the card that makes war chariot great, but the deck that it is in.
Each of these reasons alone is not enough reason to remove this card from the list of viable choices, but together they condemn Saber Hole. The thin sliver of time and situations in which Saber Hole is more useful than other alternatives is not nearly enough to justify running the card.
Extra Deck
Be sure to run at least 2 gottoms and hyunlei and 1-2 urbellum. After that just fill it with staples and be sure to fit in Armory Arm to make the level 3 plus level 1 synchro.
Strategy
I have observed that there are four stages in almost every x-saber game. Each one has its own strategy. For the purposes of this article lets name the phases Pre-Faultroll, Faultroll, Post-Faultroll or Recovery, and Winning. Games in yugioh at the highest level generally go on for only a few turns. Because of this openings are very important. If you open poorly and your opponent calls your bluff, then you can lose rather quickly. This brings me to the pre-faultroll phase which is the time in the match before you first summon faultroll. Sometimes you may pull a god hand and can skip this phase entirely, but most of the time you will want to prepare before bringing faultroll to the field.
Pre-Faultroll
This phase is all about bringing the missing pieces of your combo to your hand, field, and graveyard either through searching or drawing. It is during this time that cards like Sangan, Summoner Monk, Morphing Jar, Rescue Cat, XX-Saber Darksoul, and XX-Saber Emmersblade are most useful. The most useful of all of these cards for setting up the combo and stalling at the same time is emmersblade. He can maintain the field advantage you need while bringing out a tuner or darksoul to search your faultroll or another emmersblade for more stalling. He also protects your life points if your opponent decides to suddenly turn aggressive. After you have drawn into a back row stopper(Heavy Storm, Cold Wave, Trap Stun, ...) and you have all of your pieces in place(a tuner, faultroll, the ability to have two monsters on the field at the same time) it is time to move on to the faultroll phase.
Faultroll
During this time you want to work almost entirely out of the grave to maintain your precious hand advantage. Only use card from the hand if you need to or if darksoul searches would bring you to more than 6 cards. On the turn you bring out faultroll you have some very important decisions to make. Do you return a facedown monster with brionac? do you nuke the back rows with hyunlei? do you go for gottoms quick and start hitting the hand? An experienced player can make these decisions easily, and I cannot help you in that regard. The only thing that can help you excel in this phase is extensive experience with the deck. If you squander your time with faultroll on the field, then you will find yourself entering post-faultroll phase very quickly.
Post-Faultroll
This phase begins when your opponent has removed your faultroll from the field, and he is now in your graveyard. If you are playing a skilled player, then this phase is almost inevitable. The two most useful cards in the deck during this phase are Ragigura and Boggart knight. If you were able to search them during the faultroll phase, then you are in a very good place indeed. If not you need to return to pre-faultroll strategy. Emmersblade is capable of returning fautroll to the field single handedly by searching ragigura to the field. If you don't have a second monster in hand then you can bring back emmersblade with ragigura. If you do then bring back faultroll and move on to winning. Another card that is great for recovering is fulhelmknight. If your opponent has left you a defense posistion monster to destroy fulhelmknight can use his effect to satisfy the conditions of faultroll, so that you can move back into the faultroll or winning phase. If you made good decisions during the faultroll phase you will find that it is very easy to move from this phase to winning.
Winning
This phase begins either when you exhaust most of your opponents' resouces by preventing your opponent from removing your initial faultroll long enough to grind him down, or by summoning faultroll a second time or third time. The key to winning is to deplete the opponent's resources. Darksoul makes this easy by keeping advantage while using gottoms' effect or synchroing. Once your opponent has spent all of his resources trying to get faultroll off the field and you have fully recovered, then go for brionac or hyunlei and attack for game.
This strategy is not set in stone, but it is general enough that it can be used as a starting point or as a learning tool. There are always those rare times when you can OTK your opponent while he has a nearly full hand, but for the rest of the time you will find this strategy applies. If you view your matches in this manner your decisions will be better and faster, and you will find yourself coming a few steps closer to that ever elusive YCS top. |
Type Below new ideas, strategies..things that you've tested with sabers and worked and how can sabers adapt new list,best ratios..etc..keep flames minimum..
showing decklists is allowed. |
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