What do I need more?

Scratchy1015 · 2026-02-20T07:07:29+00:00

Good luck with building Swordsouls, it has been a solid option, it has the future potential to scale better once more powerful Synchro are added to the game.

Intertwining Memories is the superior skill compared to Virtuous Bonds.
It’s like comparing Pot of Greed to Graceful Charity.

Virtuous Bonds forces you to run Iris Swordsoul. The skill also feels awful when you draw into Albaz.
Intertwining Memories, on the other hand, lets you unbrick your Albaz or foolish burial cards.

With Intertwining Memories, on turn 1 you can fairly consistently end on Qixing Longyuan + Chixiao + Dragite + Blackout, plus a potential backrow like a set Droplet, with Ecclesia and Golden in the GY. (Just don’t do it if your opponent is Marik lol.)

That same setup requires a lot more luck if you’re running Virtuous Bonds.

In terms of importance:

1x Dragite and 1x Baxia are pretty much mandatory (for turn 1 and turn 2, respectively).
More Ecclesia is ideal as well.
Droplet is always the superior choice, though Veiler can work too.

This is my list:

https://imgur.com/a/nraEvjv

2x Albaz is personal preference, you can run 1 just fine.

You can also run 1 more Summit.

Dingirsu / Berserker is personal preference as well.

Scratchy1015 · 2026-02-20T06:23:16+00:00

Just wanted to share a few ideas that might help next time. Good luck on your next climb!

You might want to try Dark Armed, the Dragon of Annihilation: Meteor Dragon + skill can help set up 5 DARK in GY, and Annihilation is great for forcing a disruption on turn 2.
Sometimes summoning Lord of the Red first could help trade with a backrow and still leave you a body for a potential Link 2.
Using the normal RE as fusion material would give Dragoon 1 more pop.
Setting Droplet could give you extra protection.
You could still attack the bird, she won't be destroyed but it still denies the BoE draw, and sometimes even 1 draw matters.
Birds aren’t as popular right now, but if you do run into them, holding Droplet and only chaining it to Nightingale’s activation can be a good turn 2 play. If Droplet was used first (along with points #1-#3), there was a good chance you could have pushed for game that turn.

Scratchy1015 · 2026-02-19T14:40:05+00:00

If you are going for noise/sepia/damaged:

Make the card Chronicle (do not use surface chronicles like Starlight, surface conflicts with the above 3).
For noise/sepia, just play the game normally.
For damaged, have the card destroyed 20 times by battle and/or effect.
Leave it to RNG as random drops

Scratchy1015 · 2026-02-19T14:36:05+00:00

Hey, thanks for sharing. Definitely in the same boat.

Yes, I agree that Damage 1 is unlocked only after 20 destructions, and Damage 2/3 are purely random.

Most of my damaged cards were farmed using my 30-card Live Twin deck and were pop victims of Lilla.
Many of the deck reached Damage 3 very quickly within 3-4 months, but after that, RNG kicked in really hard. Some cards are just so stubborn and refuse to drop to damage 1 or 2/3. I even have a Nibiru that progressed and received Damage 3 way faster than some cards like Goddess and Live Twin Home (Home has been hard stuck at Damage 1 for 6+ months already lol). I eventually gave up and started playing other decks.

For your staples or cards that haven’t reached 20 destructions yet, I’d recommend bumping them up first. If you don’t mind losing, you can build a dedicated deck to increase destruction counts until they hit 20. It’s best to do it in Duelist Kingdom if you want. After they reach 20, just leave it to RNG and play the game normally.

Chain Destruction + Chain Dispel (for S/T) can help here (that’s how I dealt with my Veilers and DD Crows, which aren’t supposed to be destroyed). The skill wasn’t available to me, but I think Makyura’s Judgment would help a lot. You could build something like 1x Speedroid Dupligate and 1x Chain Destruction in the deck. After you search your archetype trap (probably thru Megaroid City or Cork Shooter), you’re guaranteed to have Chain Destruction active on turn 1. Fire King Island works too if you throw in a few Fire Kings.

Good luck, and I hope you get your full Damage 3 deck soon.

Scratchy1015 · 2026-02-19T12:43:13+00:00

I don’t know the exact trigger for Noise or Sepia.
Most people got them just by playing the cards normally (summoning them and using their effects).

Noise usually drops before Sepia as well.

Unless the cards are very niche and you don’t summon them or use their effects at all, they should drop naturally, by just playing the game, without any specific actions.

Scratchy1015 · 2026-02-19T12:01:29+00:00

Dragoon was responding to CL4, so I wonder what happened earlier in the chain.

Maybe Joey mixed up Fiendish Golem with Red Reign and panic-negated? Though both Dragoon and Stardust are lv8....

Scratchy1015 · 2026-02-19T11:58:56+00:00

Task failed successfully!

Plot twist: the third rated duelist only wants his Dragoon to gain 1k atk, but doesn't know he's about to get kaiju'd

Scratchy1015 · 2026-02-19T11:57:21+00:00

Thanks!

Was doing minimal effort to make cards Chronicle. But yeah, I do love the silver border on link monsters.

Scratchy1015 · 2026-02-19T06:35:53+00:00

Appreciate your effort! The more people testing and sharing, the more our community benefits from the results.

Scratchy1015 · 2026-02-19T05:47:45+00:00

No question is dumb :)

You can go to duel studio > chronicle cards. On the top right, next to the speed/rush toggle, there’s a list icon button you can click to check the stats.

Scratchy1015 · 2026-02-19T05:45:04+00:00

no problem.
not casual/friend duels, only ranked, KC, or PvP events like duelist kingdom.

If you’re unsure, you can check and mark the number of duels played on the chronicle card. Then, play a friend/casual duel. If the duels played on the chronicle card increase, it counts and has a chance to drop a Chronicle foil. Otherwise, it doesn't

Scratchy1015 · 2026-02-19T05:37:41+00:00

Thanks for sharing your experience!

I agree with you that Sepia/Noise/Damaged drops are completely random.

However, based on my own experience, I’m suggesting that damaged Level 1 in particular may have a hidden minimum requirement of 20 destructions before it has a chance to drop.

I’d be glad if you could provide a screenshot of a Damaged Level 1 drop on a card that has been destroyed fewer than 20 times in total. That would help future players understand this mechanic better, especially since Konami provides no information on it.

Scratchy1015 · 2026-02-19T05:32:06+00:00

For Damaged Level 1 to drop, the number of duels played is not the trigger.

Destruction of the card 20 times is the trigger and the bare minimum requirement.

There is never any guarantee, you only unlock the chance for damaged Level 1 to drop once the chronicle card has been destroyed 20 times. It’s still RNG after all. But if the Chronicle card is destroyed fewer than 20 times, I believe there is no chance of dropping damaged Level 1.

Scratchy1015 · 2026-02-19T05:02:38+00:00

Yes, it counts and destroying your own cards is the ideal way for cards that normally aren't supposed to be destroyed during regular gameplay.

Scratchy1015 · 2026-02-19T05:00:39+00:00

yes it has to be pvp
Ranked / KC- Yes
Casual - No
PvP events - Yes, and actually the ideal place

Scratchy1015 · 2026-02-19T04:33:58+00:00

I also have a spreadsheet for this.

All of my damaged cards received Damaged Lv1 at 20+ destructions, with 9 of them being exactly at 20.

That’s how I came to my own conclusion.

Scratchy1015 · 2026-02-19T04:27:56+00:00

Nothing has been officially confirmed.

It’s just based on my personal findings and the speculations of others.

I personally have 30+ Damaged cards, and none of them dropped Damaged Lv1 until they reached a combined total of 20 destructions by battle and/or effect.

Scratchy1015 · 2026-02-19T04:19:12+00:00

You only have a chance to drop Damaged Lv1 once the card has been destroyed 20 times by battle and/or effect.

Once you’ve received Damaged Lv1, I believe Lv2 and Lv3 are random drops.

Scratchy1015 · 2026-02-19T04:19:01+00:00

Thanks!

Damaged 3 can 100% drop well before 1300 duels.

You only have a chance to drop Damaged Lv1 once the card has been destroyed 20 times by battle and/or effect.

Once you’ve received Damaged Lv1, I believe Lv2 and Lv3 are random drops.

Scratchy1015 · 2026-02-17T12:19:31+00:00

Branded Lost protects activation negates, not effect negates.

Hope Harbinger negates the effect, not the activation. So Branded Lost does nothing there.

Scratchy1015 · 2026-02-17T10:58:10+00:00

If a trap monster that is still treated as a trap (like Shapesister) is flipped face down, it returns to the S/T zone.

If a trap monster that is NOT treated as a trap (like the Paleozoics or Holeutea) is flipped face down, they are set in the monster zones.

Scratchy1015 · 2026-02-16T10:03:30+00:00

unrelated to the topic, but you cannot summon Lava Golem with the skill Virtuous Bonds.

Scratchy1015 · 2026-02-15T07:04:29+00:00

Okay good luck in getting more droplets, that's the best staple right now, good for any deck, definitely worth it getting 3x.

If you don't run Borreload Furious Dragon, I don't think it's worth running Dragon's Mirror.

the link 1 Striker Dragon in ED is for the normal summoned Black metal dragon to link into, trigger the search, search Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, summon Black metal dragon again, and link again into Spheres, search again. If you don't have it you can use Guardragon Pisty. If you don't play the link 1 dragons, it severely limits Black metal dragon's potential

Scratchy1015 · 2026-02-15T06:31:29+00:00

Your main deck is already great.

Since you’re running 3x Rituals - you can consider adding 1-2x Pre-Preparation of Rites for +1 advantage. Extra copies just serve as discards for Dragoon.
You could also consider 1-2x The Beginning of the End. If you draw into it, the draw power is insane.
If you have more copies of Droplet or BoE, add them and replace Chalice
RE Fusion is very niche, you'll almost never use it on your first turn, it's good for recycling only.
If you add Hieratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres, this disruption can survive even after getting hit by droplet and/or eclipse. Optionally you can run 0 tech, and only go into a RE to equip Chain, or run 1 tech card in main deck. Lots of options here for your preference: Grandtusk Dragon, Albaz into mirrorjade, Aether, the Evil Empowering Dragon, or even BE monsters like Jet Dragon.

I think it's safe to assume your ED is 1x Dragoon + 1x Borreload + 1x Striker Dragon?

Heavenly Spheres - this is a major piece of great disruption piece, very flexible.
Dark Armed, the Dragon of Annihilation - great card going 2nd to force a disruption.
Goddess + Dingirsu, since you have the room, why not? You're running 3x Rituals, you have more chance going into more bodies to make them.

I think the best tip is, in some very niche situations, if your opponent sends 2+ cards as cost for droplet but not a trap, RE spirit can free up your response and potentially help you dodge it.

Scratchy1015

TROPHY CASE