Apr 9, 2011
For the last 6 or 7 months we’ve been seeing such remarkable changes in the Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME. Just like on TV, Trap Cards are more popular than ever before, with Decks commonly running well over 10 Traps, and for the first time ever, Decks that use Field Spells and Continuous Spells are all over the place!
The common thread that ties together Decks like Dragunity, Six Samurai, and Gravekeeper’s is that they do what they do with a minimum amount of monsters and a lot of Spells and traps. On average, all of these Decks run about 13 monsters. The rest is Spells that help them find those monsters and use them and Traps that get rid of opposing monsters.
Of these, Gravekeeper’s are the most egregious perpetrators of a practice that Duelists have never had a positive opinion of: Setting their entire hand in the Spell & Trap Card Zone. The biggest play in a Gravekeeper Deck is to start the Duel with a Set monster, Necrovalley, 3 Spell or Trap Cards, and Royal Tribute to dump all the monsters from your opponent’s hand. It’s extremely difficult to lose if you can pull it off, even if the Royal Tribute doesn’t hit any cards from your opponent’s hand. After all, you know all the cards in your opponent’s hand and they know none of yours since they’re all face-down.
Gravekeeper’s monsters, with the exception of Gravekeeper’s Spy, are puny and easy to run over. They have at most 1600 ATK, and that monster (Gravekeeper’s Commandant) spends most of its time in the Graveyard after being thrown away to search for a Necrovalley. The problem for most Duelists is that Necrovalley bumps all those puny monsters up to the point where nothing but Cyber Dragon or a Synchro Monster can reliably run them down, andGravekeeper’s Spy is still unassailable. All that without even taking into account the other 3 Spell or Trap Cards that are Set.
If you want to break through all of that and reduce the Gravekeeper’s back to their tiny old selves, you need to wipe all of those Set cards off the field along with Necrovalley. Drawing a monster can wait a turn or two as 2400 or 2700 damage is hardly fatal. Many Duelists are using Malevolent Catastrophe for this purpose, but Gravekeeper Duelists are already one step ahead, using Gravekeeper’s Descendant to destroy the opponent’s Spell & Trap Cardsinstead of their monsters, relying on the ATK bonus from Necrovalley to win battles. Full House doesn’t have that problem.
You can activate Full House any time there are at least 3 Set Spell or Trap Cards on the field and at least 2 face-up Spell or Trap Cards on the field. You target 3 of the Set Cards and 2 of the face-up Spell Cards, and destroy them. It seems extremely specific and narrow, and yet the conditions for this card’s activation are met in almost every Duel.
Consider the Gravekeeper example above. Let’s say you’re playing a Nordic Deck for the sake of argument. After you get hit by Royal Tribute and draw for your turn, you’re holdingGleipnir, the Fetters of Fenrir, Forbidden Lance, Bottomless Trap Hole, and Full House. You have a pretty good chance of winning this game even though your opponent has 3 Set Cards,Necrovalley, and a Gravekeeper’s Spy. All you have to Set is Full House and Gleipnir, though in practice you’ll probably Set the Bottomless too. Then, as soon as your opponent draws, you can activate Gleipnir and Chain with Full House. Target your opponent’s Set cards,Necrovalley, and your own Gleipnir. Barring a Seven Tools of the Bandit or Solemn Judgment, the end result is that your opponent now has nothing but a Spy and a card in hand compared to your Bottomless, the monster you searched with Gleipnir, and the Forbidden Lance that can be used to protect your monster from the next Spell or Trap your opponent draws or an attack.
This works because cards that you activate stay on the field until they’re either destroyed or the Chain they’re in resolves. It also allows similar plays against other top Decks, even the ones that don’t use Field Spells. If you can deal with the first Stardust Dragon a Dragunity Deck drops, or if they drop Thought Ruler Archfiend instead, Full House completely annihilates them on their next move if you Chain it to the effect of Dragon Ravine or use it when they attempt to ramp up to another Level 8 with Dragunity Dux (target the equippedDragunity Phalanx, Dragon Ravine, and 3 Set cards). Against Miracle Gemini you can either use it when they load up with Skill Drain, Royal Oppression, and 3 Set cards, or when they activate something like Gemini Spark or Miracle Fusion to clear out their back row and set yourself up for a comeback.
About the only Decks that regularly avoid the wrath of Full House are Monarchs, Fish, and Six Samurai. The first two don’t really Set cards. For the latter, it’s purely by virtue of them being able to have both Legendary Six Samurai – Shi En and Musakani Magatama on the field at the same time. But what about playing it in Six Samurai? If your opponent wants to stonewall you, you can always activate Double-Edged Sword Technique or one of your Continuous Spells or even just a regular old Spell like Shien’s Smoke Signal and Chain with Full House to wipe all opposition off the field.
Much like with Heavy Storm, Duelists are going to need to change the way they play whenExtreme Victory gets here. If they don’t, if they continue to just Set every card they draw, then there won’t be any escape from Full House. The Extreme Victory Sneak Peek is happening the weekend of April 30th/May 1st. Be there!
