Sunday, September 11, 2011

In the Spotlight: T.G. Agents


Consistency.  Speed.  Power.  Control.  What if I told you that you could play a deck had all of these for relatively cheap?  Here’s a deck list I’ve been testing with that utilizes monsters as its source of power and control.  That’s right, almost no traps involved!  The reason why is probably fairly obvious: with the newly limited Heavy Storm and the unlimited Mystical Space Typhoon floating around, traps just don’t last long enough to play conservatively.  I found that cards such as Solemn Warning and even Solemn Judgment slowed me down and were most always Typhoon’d or Storm’d away, rendering them useless.  Here was the deck list at the start of the format:
           Monster Total: 27
3 Master Hyperion
3 The Agent of Creation - Venus
3 Mystical Shine Ball
3 The Agent of Mystery - Earth
3 Herald of Orange Light
3 T.G. Warwolf
2 T.G. Striker
2 Archlord Kristya
2 Tragoedia
1 Black Luster Soldier
1 Honest
1 Sangan
     
Spell Total: 12
3 Pot of Duality
3 Cards from the Sky
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Heavy Storm
1 Monster Reborn
1 Dark Hole
1 Mind Control
           Trap Total: 1
1 Trap Dustshoot
From a financial standpoint, TG Agents are one of the most cost effective decks in the current meta.  Go to your local card shop and pick up three Lost Sanctuary structure decks, and be sure to make an effort to trade for a few freshly minted super rare Pot of Duality and Archlord Kristya, and, voila, you’ve got yourself the core of a tier 1 deck!  If you’re having problems trading for the Dualities or Kristyas for cheap, you can (worst-case scenario) pick some up in the Wave 1 tins.  Add some Tech Genus staples and you’ve just made it a bit more fun!  The T.G. and Agents work together to form a great combination of defense and control, all wrapped into one deck.  Read on to find out why!  
1. Consistency and Speed
Because this deck utilizes some great spell cards like Pot of Duality and Cards from the Sky, you'd be hard pressed to open up with a truly terrible hand.  Playing multiple Cards from the Sky in one turn, perhaps in combination with a Duality, can help you thin your deck down quickly to draw in to some power cards and get your win condition faster!
Another great card that helps with consistency is Earth, which gives you hand advantage in the form of a [+1] (see article on card advantage), as well as an extra card to discard for Herald of Orange Light if you need to.  Earth’s [+1] essentially mitigates the cost of Herald’s inherent [-1].  Additionally, let’s say you have an Earth and a Cards from the Sky.  If you read the article on playing conservatively, you’d know exactly what to do:  normal summon the Earth, searching Venus.  Banish the in-hand Venus to Cards and draw two.  From this play, you have a [+1] and two freshly drawn cards, rather than banishing the Earth (without normal summoning, of course) and just drawing two cards.  From this, we see the conservative, card-advantage route generates the most options.


2. Boss Monsters and Power Plays
As you can see, this deck makes excellent use of hefty boss monsters, all of which can turn the game into your favor within a single turn.  Summon Master Hyperion by banishing an Agent from your graveyard, then banish another fairy to net a [+1] in card advantage.  Summon an Archlord Kristya against any deck in the current meta, and watch as your opponent struggles to overcome it (unless, of course, they have Dark Hole or the like).  Finally, the deck takes advantage of the most powerful monster to come off the banlist in years: Black Luster Soldier.  The Soldier can drastically turn things in your favor - use it to banish that pesky Ally of Justice Catastor holding you back, or try its other effect: attacking twice with a whopping 3000 attack!  It’s especially good when utilized late game as you’ve usually got that graveyard loaded with your light monsters, as well as some darks.  Note that T.G. Warwolf is a dark monster, which is one of the reasons T.G. and Angels work together to produce a deck that's greater than the sum of its parts.  


Since you often have many cards in hand, Tragoedia is a good beater early or even mid-game.  However, a mistake many players make is that they only play Tragoedia reactively - as in reacting to opponent’s plays.  Instead, take a new twist on things and try playing it proactively.  Suppose, for example, you have 5 cards in hand, including Sangan and Tragoedia.  Normal summon the Sangan, then ram it into the Bora in the battle phase, special summoning Tragoedia in the damage step.  Sure, you lose some Life Points in the process, but you get your Sangan search (netting 4 cards in hand now), and you’ve got a bulky Tragoedia on the field with 2400 attack!  After it’s done, you’re still at 5 cards total (in hand and on the field), but you’re still in your battle phase!  Take down that Bora, and you’ve got a great beater and a Sangan search to set up for your play next turn.  Alternatively, Sangan can get you that Herald from your deck to protect you later on if needed.  Many opponents will not expect plays like this, so the element of surprise will be a big advantage on your part!  


This deck is terrific at generating monsters with high attack and defense.  Our shining star: Gachi Gachi Gantetsu.  This Xyz monster comes in the Dawn of the Xyz starter deck, and is a perfect fit in T.G. Agents.  Many great first turns come from summoning Venus, getting 2-3 Shine Balls from the deck, and stacking two of those Shine Balls for Gachi.  With this play, you net a [+2] in terms of card advantage (assuming Gachi and the 3rd Shine Ball hit the field), and a souped-up Venus with 2000 attack due to Gachi’s effect!  At this point, all monsters you summon will now have their attack increased by 400, which is a pretty big deal.  Your opponent’s only answer will be to minus himself by summoning synchros or Xyzs to attack over or get rid of your monsters.  

Remember how how Necrovalley made a huge difference for the Gravekeeper beatdown strategy?  It can turn their monsters from being just “good” to a force to be reckoned with, powering over even the strongest level 4 monsters!  Gachi has the same principle.  Venus becomes 2000, Earth pumps up to 1400, Hyperion a whopping 3100,  and Tragoedia 400 + 600 times the number of cards in  your hand.  Plus, when your opponent finally manages to get the Gachi off the field, you’re set up for Hyperion and Kristya plays!  Awesome!


The T.G. monsters aren't only used for synchos and card advantage; they're also used for Xyzs.  A Venus and Warwolf get you Leviair, which you can then use to special summon one of your level 4 or lower removed from play fairies for a cool [+1].  Also, you can get Leviathan Dragon, remove a Venus, and have a 2500 ATK beatstick (or up to 2900 with Gachi on the field!).







3. Control
Although great at aggressively putting big monsters on the field, this deck also utilizes an extremely effective control strategy.  Herald is one of the best control cards in the deck (the other being Kristya!), but it can be tricky to play.  It’s an inherent [-1], but there are certain ways you can play it to help make up for that (and, as you’ll see, this way is to play conservatively!).  Don’t lose card advantage over small stuff, because a [-1] will eliminate some of your options when you need to make a comeback.  Herald small stuff (like Effect Veiler or Honest!) late game only if you know your opponent is on his last leg and you can win the game that turn (key word here is “only”!).  
Looking over my decklist, you’ll notice I only play one trap card.  Not surprisingly, it’s a control card, because Trap Dustshoot will either eliminate key cards in your opponent’s strategy or cards that prevent you from accomplishing your strategies, such as Effect Veiler, Honest, and Maxx “C”.  See the article on how to make the most of Trap Dustshoot coming soon!
Finally, most decks in the meta right now focus on swarming the field, and, outside of Dark Hole, there are few cards commonly played that focus on monster elimination.  This is where Archlord Kristya really shines!  While testing this deck against most meta decks this format, when I’ve summoned Archlord Kristya, it was typical that my opponent simply scooped, and we proceeded into the next game.  Indeed, this shows how powerful a single card can be - summoning a 2800 beater, getting a [+1] (the fairy from the grave, typically Honest or Hyperion), all backed up by a built-in Royal Oppression!  Also, don’t forget that Kristya can be tribute summoned or Monster Reborn’d.  In fact, a great (but somewhat situational) combo with this deck is when you have Herald, Kristya, and Reborn.  Play the Herald, discarding the Kristya, and activate Reborn, special summoning Kristya.


4. Card Advantage
Note that card advantage has been mentioned in most every topic discussed thus far.  It is hard to stress how very important this is in getting advantage during any game, against any player.  Almost every card in the deck, with the exception of Herald, is an advantage generator.  Venus is a [+3] when combined with Shine Ball.  The T.G. monsters replace themselves.  Wonder Magician in the extra deck creates a [+1] that makes up for its inherent [-1] to synchro.  Earth is a [+1], Kristya is [+1], and Hyperion creates a [+1] every turn he sticks around.  This isn't even counting the battle phase advantage you'll generate with your pumped-up monsters, thanks to Gachi!
Herald is the only minus, but take this example:  your opponent uses 3 cards to synchro for Trishula.  At this point, before the effect of Trishula resolves, here’s the card advantage for your opponent: -3 synchro materials + 1 Trishula = [-2].  Trishula triggers, and you use Herald and another fairy [-2] to negate and destroy the activation of Trishula.  This bit of card advantage calculation will be a little complex, but if you can stick with it, your understanding of play-by-play advantage will be broadened.  Ready?  Here we go!  
Play-by-play advantage for your opponent: -3 synchro materials + 1 Trishula + 2 of your cards that you used up from Herald - 1 Trishula (since Trishula is destroyed by Herald’s effect) = -3 + 1 + 2 - 1 = [-1], which is a [+1] for you!  Whew!  Got it?  Your opponent used 3 monsters for Trishula, while you played smart (read: conservatively) and used 2 cards for Herald, generating a [+1] after all is said and done!  


5. Format Modifications
Of course, no deck is perfect from the start.  As the format goes on, you'll have to modify the deck to have it perform to the best of its ability.  After the meta became a little more clear following the first YCS of the format, I've made a few changes.  I took out three Herald of Orange Light and three Cards from the Sky because I felt as if they were holding me back when I wanted to explode and win the game.  I put in four defensive cards: 2 Effect Veiler and 2 Maxx "C".  I found that this did not interfere with the consistency of my Kristya and Hyperion drops (due to the reduction of three fairies).  The final two changes were a 3rd T.G. Striker (for more Armory Arm or Trishula plays) and Gorz the Emissary of Darkness.  I'm still playing around with the deck, but this is what works well so far!  Feel free to change it around and find what suits you best. Remember, you're playing for your meta, not mine!  So here's the modified deck list:


         Monster Total: 30
3 Master Hyperion
3 The Agent of Creation - Venus
3 Mystical Shine Ball
3 The Agent of Mystery - Earth
3 T.G. Warwolf
3 T.G. Striker
2 Archlord Kristya
        2 Effect Veiler
        2 Maxx "C"
2 Tragoedia
        1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
1 Black Luster Soldier
1 Honest
1 Sangan
     
Spell Total: 9
3 Pot of Duality
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Heavy Storm
1 Monster Reborn
1 Dark Hole
1 Mind Control
           Trap Total: 1
1 Trap Dustshoot
Conclusively, this deck utilizes playing conservatively and card advantage to a great extent, and it is up to you to play smart and make the most of it!  With these tips and a little bit of practice, you can unlock the full potential of T.G. Agents!
Ms. K

6 comments:

  1. Hi , you have a very nice blog, i like your way to think about the strategies and probabilties, but i have a question for you, i used to run Gladiator beast(with a lot of backrow) but the new format just KILLED me, against me they use 3 MST and heavy storm, DO YOU KNOW A good build of GB in the new format? please i need help :)

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  2. Thank you for the compliments! Unfortunately, neither Ms. K nor I have any extensive experience with GBs this format. However, the GB strategy section on Pojo might have some ideas on how to handle them!

    Remember, there's nothing wrong with playing a lot of traps this format. It's just that you need to remember how to play conservatively! Don't risk everything to Storm, set only the stuff you need to get you through the next turn.

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  3. Ok thank you very much, keep dueling and have fun.

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  4. Who's Ms. K.?

    Nice articles, House and K ;D

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  5. Ms. K is a longtime YGO player! She's seen excellent tournament success and is one of the few girls (women) known for her playing.

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  6. Awesome deck list and explanation of combos etc... I used this as a skeleton for my own deck and I've been getting good results so far. Thanks Dr. House!

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