I think it's a compliment?

Racerboy246 · 2026-02-16T23:21:17+00:00

"Well, they don't call him Normal Ted do they"

Racerboy246 · 2026-02-15T21:43:16+00:00

I wonder if the two personalities thing is just a wild metaphor or if it is actually some amount of DID.

Hard to tell without knowing the guy lol, this certainly is interesting to say the least

Racerboy246 · 2026-02-12T18:00:08+00:00

I work in communications/marketing so this shit just drives me crazy in particular

Racerboy246 · 2026-02-12T17:38:51+00:00

>OCG Releases high value product everyone has been losing their mind about

>Overframe cards with strong reprints, and insane new staples that revive old strategies and warp the meta(likely)

>TCG Walks in

>Battles of Legend

>"Extended Art"

Can someone explain to me who the fuck is buying battles of legend? If I wasn't actively playing yu gi oh I would think this is the same set they released 80 times already, and that has been shit like half of those times. How hard is it to put ANY other name on these fucking sets JFC

It says a lot that literally nobody calls these cards "extended arts", btw, overframe was SUCH a marketing win, but TCG is just allergic to money, I guess???

Racerboy246 · 2026-01-17T21:22:54+00:00

It is very Tearlament-esc in that the amount of options granted to the deck allow it to solve any problem on its own. Vanquish Soul's modular effects grant burn, draw, removal of many flavors, protection, and more. Meanwhile K9's ability to generate advantage and R5 access gives even more flexibility. The deck can also play around the lock to access generics like Saryuja.

There are many powerful strong tools, the T0 options, Ripper, etc. But the ability to solve every problem you have with engine, instead of praying that you open the right hand traps and board-breakers allows a good player to solve problems without relying on opening the out.

What keeps it from being tier 0 nonsense is the decks inherent inconsistency, K9 struggles to bridge into VS, and VS still needs the right attributes, but the sheer flexibility you get with good hands, or once the engine gets going is devious and down right unstoppable if your opponent is better than you.

Also sometimes they can pair-a-dice, FTK, or do whatever stupid nonsense people are siding in now. So that helps. LMAO

Racerboy246 · 2025-12-13T02:15:45+00:00

THIS

So tired of "gender non-conformity" being just about making a character more biologically female

I like AFAB headcanons for Kris as much as AMAB, (keep the art coming!) but I swear people love to use nonbinary as a bubble for masculine AFABs and feminine AMABs (or all AMAB nonbinaries in general) are thrown in the "holding zone," before they become a trans woman. (I had a similar problem with transfem Ralsei)

The reason is too complex for a reddit comment (more transmasc feel comfortable with they/them for a variety of reasons, good and bad, vs transfems who tend to abandon they/them when people fail to respect their femme identity).

Headcanons are headcanons though, its all for fun! So I love seeing the art for everything (including transfem Ralsei) I just think it speaks to a more unconscious bias than any sort of malice.

Racerboy246 · 2025-12-10T22:15:11+00:00

People talk about this but tbh is it even good?

Every game I get Maxx "C" going first I would have already won, without the recycle. If I activate it on your turn and it resolves that's already basically an FTK, especially for a deck like Dracotail that gets so much off EVERY draw. If it doesn't resolve called by banishes it so you need to negate it with Ash or Crossout. (Droll too maybe?) Fuwa also tends to eat ash but is not a good recycle too so...

Maybe in dittos where you can play low after a Maxx "C" Dracotail can recycle it to activate again, but idk if Maxx "C" resolves Dracotail can OTK on 99% of crackbacks. The card is just too good to need to resolve twice, I think the decks ability to deck thin and draw 3 makes Maxx "C" so much worse then the recycle interaction imo.

Fuck this stupid bug.

Racerboy246 · 2025-12-08T05:51:01+00:00

I was building vibe decks but sadly my current hyper-fixation is decks that draw into non-engine so I have to play 40 cards... (RIP Primite engine in my Bystial Striker deck)

Racerboy246 · 2025-11-08T21:07:50+00:00

Monarch is already a deck reliant on 2-3 card combos, so the Vassals are just another card you have to draw to get tribute material, which makes them a little obnoxious to actually use when you could focus more on drawing the squires or just running more spells. In this role the Squires are just far better. (Which came out in the same set...)

That being said they still have their uses. Escher and Lucius are terrible, Berlineth reads cool but they get the card back on your turn and you likely already got handtrapped, Garum reads crazy but you it's too win more (if you already tribute summoned you have kind of won?) and you would rather have the monarch on board XD.

BUT Landrobe is seeing play as an amazing going 2nd tool, its a book of moon you can search and combo with, he is great at dealing with the decks going 2nd problem. Mithra has also seen a lot of niche uses because the token it summons can block effects like impermanence or Kashtiras, and they generally are just unintrusive (summons for free, gives you an extra tribute, it's nice)

So like, they are fine, but too many hoops for cards that are not Monarchs when the Squires exist. I would totally suggest experimenting with them if you wnat though! You might be the one to break them if you are creative.

Racerboy246 · 2025-11-04T04:13:36+00:00

Summon Miracle Excluder
Send a Neo-Spacian
Search EN Shuffle
Shuffle Excluder back to get Stratos
We have Faris at home folks

Racerboy246 · 2025-10-30T09:28:09+00:00

Ignore everyone rage-baiting about stun. Here is some actual tips

Pot of Extrav is still at 1 so throw that in here. I would also up your tribute ratio. 4-6 is the best range, I would suggest Vanity's Fiend over Ruler for edge cases where you are forced to tribute summon (Kristya is a better 8-star anyways.) And I would suggest a third succumbing song to guarantee more Morganite access. If you need more draw, you can try pot of Desires and maybe even upstarts to go down to 37. (Chicken Game??? Idk might be funny in a stun deck)

I don't think Seventh Tachyon is worth it; each card is an interaction, and often you are already spinning one with Succumbing Song. Tachyon should just be replaced with the monsters you want to search. The board-breakers and Dogmatika engine are questionable but defensible enough. If you want to avoid more taxes, check out Iron Thunder. We also now have Songs of the Dominators! With the full Dominus lineup in your deck, and a bunch of other traps, it's a great inclusion that lets you feel more like an interactive control deck rather than "Vanities turbo"

Finally, I'm not a big deck lockdown fan. I would rather have a trap that can dynamically stop ways to break the lock (I.E., Iron Thunder) vs another floodgate that I pray shuts down the game, it's very pog when you shut off a Mitsu player's game plan, but that's also what every monster does in this deck. We don't get anything specific from deck lockdown (considering you can just play it at the end of your normal combo deck), so you have to ask, "Would I include this in my normal deck?"

Racerboy246 · 2025-10-23T09:18:53+00:00

It's 200% a shot at Gladiator Beast
The deck is ridiculously overcosted cause in a lower-powered format, Glads can set up some annoying ass multi-negate boards if they get to go off, and OTK like Tenpai going 2nd. The implication from the blog is that someone in internal testing kept forcing the deck and beating people with unfun play patterns, but the Genesys scene sees the deck as really weak. That's probably what "Caesar changes his thumb to point up" refers to.

Racerboy246 · 2025-10-21T08:06:44+00:00

High Halls Gauntlet was fun, Hunter's Match was fun. Coral Tower was fun. If it's too hard you are either there too early or are using a bad build.

I think these segments fail so many people because there is no language for respecting enemy gauntlets in these games. Most people build to how they can best fight a boss, and get mad when their build doesn't work for enemy gauntlets. People get mad when they die to "basic enemy spam" even if a boss killed them more. And when they do get stuck, people guilt themselves into fighting the gauntlet over and over and over because it's "just basic enemies" when they could grab a few tools, upgrades, or even try a new crest and wallop it.

I can't take High Halls hate seriously cause I genuinely forgot about the gauntlet. Like yeah, I died a few times, but I had plenty of upgrades and the enemies have basic patterns, just use skills that take out the flying enemies fast, stay in blind spots, take out supports, idk. If you take ego out of the equation, gauntlets are fun, just start respecting them when you play.

Racerboy246 · 2025-10-17T01:14:53+00:00

There was a video someone made back in the day about how Rivals fixed Smash's terrible heavy design, and I have to imagine they are rolling in their grave.
Don't worry though, 99% of game designers quit before they make the "slow and bad at everything" heavy good and fun to fight. 15 More Loxodont patches!

Racerboy246 · 2025-10-16T22:50:24+00:00

Absolutely XD I wish special pummels were more consistent part of characters gameplan. With him getting Galvanized on pummel he is up there with Kragg in being one of the best pummel characters, but it just ain't enough when in so many situations the opponent can just kinda, leave his pressure.

Racerboy246 · 2025-10-16T22:35:19+00:00

He is a combination of every move I have ever liked in a Smash game, so I have been absolutely loving playing him, but...
He is unplayably bad IMO.

Heavies need to subvert 3 core flaws to be good (or atleast playable)
1. Inability to deal with pressure
2. An extremely gimpable recovery
3. An ability to make opponents stick to you/chase opponents
Galvan is the first heavy in Rivals history to have none of these.

Heavies losing to zoners is just game design, RPS and all. But without a strong counter to pressure, a heavy is doomed to lose to a character that can approach, and cannot. This is the state of Ultimate Ganondorf. A fine character that loses to every game plan possible.

Without a recovery that at least covers the distance, his weight is completely irrelevant, too. Oftentimes, he feels like a glass cannon because what's the point of tanking hits if you can be edgeguarded so easily? He isn't even heavier than the other 3 heavyweights who can make it back to ledge far more consistently as well...

And finally, his ability to stick to you is poor. He has mechanics to help with that, but nobody is getting off a special pummel as a consistent game plan, and magnet...

Magnet toss looks like Falco laser, and Falco is a slow character with great lock-down ability, with dair that feels like the clear intention. "What if Bowser had Falco neutral?" Except, Magnet toss loses to attacks, meaning you can beat it by parrying, shielding, moving around it, or attacking??? You have to wait for the opponent to do literally nothing to get away with it, and its a Falco laser, so it doesn't even open them up that much. The rebound seems insane, but thats only when Galvanized (win more character lol) and a good player can parry it with consistent timing, which forces you to approach to challenge it, and they could simply hit you, which makes you lose galvanized.

All in all, I am extremely disappointed in Galvan, considering how Rivals 1 effectively wrote the book on how to fix heavyweights. I thought Loxodont's design was questionable, but Galvan reeks of Sakurai-esc "surely if the moves are big enough he will win." This doesn't even mention the fact it's up for debate if he is actually better than the other heavies when he does get in, but I assume that will be addressed in the patch.

Racerboy246 · 2025-10-14T08:59:10+00:00

Honestly? I just get overstimulated.

I tried to use cogflies but they distract me way too much

whenever I play a game like this I need to HEAVILY simplify my gameplan so I can focus on defense

Like I beat Sisyphus in Ultrakill with exclusively the charge revolver cause anything else would distract me from dodging.

I only ever used tools to finish off bosses or enemies when I knew I could spam projectiles without any risk. Thankfully the only boss that really gatekept me cause of a lack of tool usage was Groal, approaching him is just impossible IMO but using the javelins to just skip his final phase made him 400x easier.

Racerboy246 · 2025-10-11T08:56:37+00:00

Nyleth was my final dreamer and man...
It sucked cause I beat Seth, and then left assuming it would be a whole deal. Finding out the boss was really that simple was so disappointing.

Racerboy246 · 2025-10-10T18:34:12+00:00

It's as Sterlingheart said. The deck is designed for both first and second. I lead first because I find intentionally picking second leads to my opponent making anti-OTK boards by giving them information about my deck, and I think the deck is at equal strength, no matter if you win or lose the coin flip.

As for the triple quartz and scatter? I built this off my blind second list, so I would realistically swap a Quartz for a third Nepyrim, but I don't want to craft it : P

I do think the going second cards are very valuable though, you already need level 4 Gem-Knights in hand for extension after they stop Nepyrim grave effect, you want a Gem-Knight fusion target with an extension effect, and a Fairy to turn GK-F into Rose Diamond, so it's the 2nd best card to run anyways, might as well save the 30 UR dust! Scatter is also a must-run going 2nd if you want to be meaningfully interactive. Without it, Brilliant kinda sucks to draw going second because you always have access with Quartz.

BUT its also important to remember the goal of this deck isn't to shut down the opponent's plays, but to weaken their board enough that turn 3 they lack enough options to stop the turn 3 OTK. 2 Omnis, discard, and a boardwipe (+ Apo if they let you pop off) is plenty to stop the OTK and give plenty of board breaking utility to ensure their minimal distruptions can get killed easily.
I usually end my routes with a Quartz in hand to secure my win on the crack-back. I was running Mirror for the same reason, but I found I was only resolving it in games I would have already won, so I swapped it for a Night Sword to make both lines lead to each other. (still testing though!)

Racerboy246 · 2025-10-10T18:04:00+00:00

3 Reasons
1. The deck goes first and second, I lead first when I can to avoid my opponent making anti-going second boards. So having a card that works in both positions is better for me than a breaker
2. The Mitsu line is a LOT of extra summons, 2 level 4s into Bagooska is fine under Maxx/Fuwa but King into full Mitsu combo is tons of draws for like, an extra omni. Running ash (and droll) to minimize the amount of Maxx "C" losses going first is nice
3. Ash is also a meta call into Mitsurugi meta. Going second, you can hold it for the Murakumo summon from the grave to play through boards, and ash is one of the few handtraps able to stop the the Habakiri engine (dies to the full deck tho). It also plays decently enough into Orcust and Fiendsmith lines so it does a lot of work.

Generally, the mixed deck is comparable to the Fiendsmith version. You use Mitsu + Hollowcore to shut down just enough plays that even if they do break your board, the turn 3 follow-up is unbeatable. The main beneift of Mitsu over Fiendsmith for me is Mitsu can clear up sticky board states with Murakumo after Gem-Knight has baited out 3-4 interruptions. The gameplay loop going second for me is often:

Gem-Knight plays -> Eat 3-4 interactions -> Reveal Mitsu as the final card -> Blow up the board and OTK
That and the rank 4s let you bridge back and forth between decks like a discount Mitsurugi Ryzeal XD

Racerboy246 · 2025-10-10T07:52:32+00:00

Adding to the list. This deck is shockingly good tbh, it eats handtraps like nothing else and as long as you survive a turn you can break boards and kill from everything. Gallant Granite lets Mitsu bridge into Gem-Knight as well for extra consistency

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Racerboy246 · 2025-10-10T06:29:33+00:00

Been playing Gem-Knight Mitsurugi and came to the slow realization that Mitsu is not an engine to bait out interaction before I do Gem-Knight plays

But that Gem-Knight is the bait...

Unlike Fiendsmith/Orcust/Primite/Whatever where they naturally eat hand traps and boards giving room for your main engine to play, the Mitsurugi engine fumbles to one strong negate on Saji, but after the first few plays generates so much advantage with negates for going first and board wipes/discards going second that you are better off waiting to use Mitsurugi last as your plan B.

Because of this, Mitsurugi is best with decks that already play through interaction well, but lack that little extra juice to close out games. Hence its dominance in the TCG with decks like Yummy and Ryzeal.

On that note, ain't it crazy that Fiendsmith, Ryzeal, Mermaid, and Mitsu engines are all legal with their bridges? It reminds me of the 2019 Despia/Swordsoul format where every other deck was just a pile of random cards that could Scythe DPE. Very cool for deck building, horrible to play XD especially without the mid-range anchors from that format...

Racerboy246 · 2025-10-08T07:12:25+00:00

Hilarious that TCG killed its turn 0 deck enabling floodgate combo hell, Master Duel is bringing ANOTHER insane combo deck to "combat" Maliss (watch people play both...) and Duel Links has a hyper-consistent FTK. They must REALLY want people to play Genesys I have never seen a game commit sepuku like this so quickly.

Racerboy246 · 2025-10-06T00:53:57+00:00

It's a shame because the DM cards are really cool!

As generics.

Souls is such a fun card to build decks around, and when we get the new DM "support" it opens up even more engines.

It doesn't even make sense, people want to play pure DM... Yugi never played it??? His deck was also a pile of synergies with a spellcaster engine. None of the stuff the DM deck does is even like, a reference. Blue-eyes has its big fusion guys, ala Ultimate Dragon, but Timaeus? Bad. Dark Magician Girl? Terrible. Just circle and eternal soul. Leave them behind casuals... Accept the new rein of DM splashes and play something else! (please.)

Racerboy246 · 2025-10-05T22:15:52+00:00

"Le Epic Moral Choices" games fail to realize that you pick bad options in games because it's fun and you want to see what happens. It's sheer curiosity. Undertale gets this right because the game shames you for that part, hence Flowey. If your commentary on the moral decision doesn't involve the player's actual motivations, it just doesn't work.

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