AboutMichael Lucas (Yu-Gi-Oh Category Guru) Expertise On vacation until August 16th. Will fix decks at that time, and discuss options regarding the Forbidden/Limited lists when they are officially posted.
I can answer any question based on the English Yu-Gi-Oh Trading Card Game.
Rulings questions are my specialty. Ask me about ANY ruling for ANY card or combination of cards. If there's a valid ruling or a way to deduce a valid ruling, I'll be able to help you.
I'll also be willing to do deck fixes, but ONLY on decks that actually show some promise of possibly becoming good. Decks that are just random cards that aren't very good will be rejected, and I'll link you to a page where you can look at some better decks for ideas. Decks that are not in Advanced Format, or not competitive, will be sent to the Question Pool.
IF YOUR DECK INCLUDES DARK MAGICIAN, BLUE-EYES WHITE DRAGON OR RED-EYES BLACK DRAGON, I WILL IMMEDIATELY REJECT IT. These are CASUAL decks, not tournament-competitive ones. Please take decks including those cards to our casual deck experts. Also, I may or may not do fixes on other themes that would be consider non-tournament worthy. (Basically, if your deck is not a Blackwing, Gladiator Beast, Vayu Turbo, Dark Synchro, or Lightsworn deck, AND I don't think it has the promise of being able to compete with any of the above five decks, I'll be hesitant to offer a fix.)
I should also be able to give you general values of cards if you`re looking to buy or sell, or answer whether a certain trade was fair or not. Please limit value questions to 15 cards or less. I'm not going to appraise your entire collection. Additionally, please only list Super/Ultra/Secret/Ultimate rares, and make sure they do not come from structure/starter decks.
Experience Player/trader/collector for 7.5 years
Publications Writer for Beckett Yu-Gi-Oh Collector, Beckett Anime Collector, Beckett Pokemon Collector, and various books produced by Pojo.com
Education/Credentials Player of the American TCG since January 2002, tournament player since March 2002
Awards and Honors Duelist King Tournament Season 3 Champion -- Jahinie Productions, West Mifflin, PA...which has since, sadly, closed its doors.
148th/482 players at 2005 Yu-Gi-Oh Nationals
Top 4 at April 2005 Butler Regionals (Chaos/Trinity format)
Top 4 at August 2005 Butler Regionals (Chaos/Trinity format)
Top 8 at July 2008 Monroeville Regionals (Oppression Monarch)
Top 4 at October 2008 at Coraopolis Regionals (Tele-DAD)
Top 4 at June 14, 2009 Coraopolis, PA Regionals (Blackwings)
Qualified for 2005, 2006, 2009 Yu-Gi-Oh Nationals
Non-gameplay Yu-Gi-Oh Credentials:
Have made over $120,000 in the past 6 years from dealing in bulk quantities of Yu-Gi-Oh collectibles
Created "the point system", a method for fairly trading large quantities of low-valued cards in exchange for high-valued items, commonly accepted throughout the Yu-Gi-Oh community
Question Hey Mike. Can you edit my monarch deck. Thanks a lot. Also since I just built
this deck, can you please tell me why soul exchange is so good in a monarch
deck. Im kinda confused about the whole thing.
Spells 14
2x brain control
2x soul exchange
1x snatch steal
1x enemy controller
1x book of moon
1x mst
1x scapegoat
1x smashing ground
1x premature burial
1x confiscation
1x heavy storm
1x nobleman of crossout
Traps 6
3x sakuretsu armor
1x mirror force
1x torrential tribute
1x ring of destruction
Answer Traps are fine.
Spells look pretty good as well...
And I might consider a 3rd Spy but that's the only real major change.
Soul Exchange is good because it lets you clear out an opponent's face-down monster where your Brain Control would be a dead card. Sometimes it's worth not attacking just to clear out 2-3 opponent cards in one turn (Soul Exchange Thestalos is a huge early game play, when their face-down isn't Sangan, Treeborn, or a Malicious they tribute set for.)