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Crimson Wind Academy Exam (Revamped):

Questions:

1) Select one card that you think is underrated in the current meta. Why is it underrated? And why do you think this card is underrated? Explain in full how & why you think a card that is underrated in today's meta would probably work against most decks today.

Grading will be based upon how much effort, knowledge of the game, and how underrated the card actually is.


2) Lately, Konami and Upper Deck have been trying to remove cards from the Forbidden/Limited Lists that they feel no longer need to be there.

If you were asked to ban, limit, or semi-limit one card for the next format, which one card would it be?
What is your reasoning to support this single-card change?

Grading will be based on logic, knowledge of the game, and a thorough explanation of why the specified card.


3)Inflict the maximum amount of damage in one turn:
You opponent's field:
Spell and Trap Zone:
Crystal Beast Topaz Tiger, Crystal Beast Amethyst Cat, Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus, Crystal Beast Ruby Carbuncle, Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins
Monster Zone:
Crystal Beast Amber Mammoth (Defense mode)

Your field:
Monsters:
Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude (Attack mode)
Spells and Traps:
Return from the Different Dimension (previously set)
Your hand: Enchanted Arrow, Allure of Darkness, Monster Reborn, Darklord Zerato, Dark Magician of Chaos
Your graveyard: Destiny Draw (Sent by Diamond Dude last turn), Armageddon Knight

Your entire deck, in the order you will draw them:
1. Destiny Hero Disk Commander
2. Trade In
3. Heavy Storm
4. Darknight Parshath
5. Soul Release
6. Snipe Hunter

Notes:
- The order in which you activate and attack with cards is critical.
- Your opponent will try his best to keep the amount of Crystal Beasts he has on his S/Ts as high as possible.
- Your opponent will negate the first s/t you activate with Rainbow Ruins.
- Your Snipe Hunter will roll a 4, then a 1, then a 4, then a 1, then a 4, etc.
- If you run out of cards in your deck, you lose.

Submit your work, and the final amount of life point damage you have inflicted. Grading will be based by how much damage you can cause (there is a possibility of winning the duel this turn).


4) Select one of the below deck types and make a deck around them. Describe what that deck-type does, how it wins, and what you did to make it as good as you were able.

(As you will see, this question sports only underused and underestimated decktypes. Each is very difficult to make and handle, and while none are likely to be competitive, it shows off a duelist's ability to make decks that are original, fun, and still good, while at the same time showing us their familiarity with the card pool they have. This test is an overall score of their versatility.)

- Winged Kuriboh LV 10 OTK
Focusing on bringing Winged Kuriboh to your hand to play that elusive Transcendant Wings card, this deck focuses on making sure your opponent's monsters have powerful things on the field to blow up. Staying defensive, while ensuring the opponent's monsters are both safe and powerful, is more than a little difficult, but if your deck is fast enough to pull it off, or can put powerful monsters on your opponent's field, you shouldn't have many problems.

- Toon
With the ability to search any of their cards with the drop of a spell, toons are fast and versatile, but they can also be costly. A slow deck, toons can hit the opponent directly with very strong monsters - if you can manage to both play them, AND keep them safe effectively.

- Plant
With cards like Gigaplant and Lord Poison, Plant decks don't have many cards available to them, but are able to bring back the few they have many times. Based in restoration of resources, plants re-grow and germinate just as their type should, so they can be difficult to play against if the deck can be fast and aggressive enough.

- Monster Token
Tokens are generally weak and strictly defensive, but they can be used for so much more. These versatile beasts can be used to clog your opponent's field, or stop them from attacking you, and with the right cards, they, or the cards that require them, can become incredibly powerful

- Spell Counter
Generally spell-heavy, these decks can damage heavily with cards like Megaton Magical Cannon and Tower of Babel, but they are a double-edged sword, in that they have problems maintining card advantage, and their monster counts are generally low. The deck needs to be fast-paced, and able to fill your power cards with counters quickly so that when the time is right you can hit your opponent hard with things like Magical Marrionette and Mythical Beast Cerberus.

- Vehicroid
The monsters may look cute, but as soon as they get you alone, they'll eat you. A group of machines, these cards can be agressive, but prefer the defensive side of play until they can play their power hitters. The deck can be fast with the right cards, and even more powerful with the right duelist, but with improper card choices - that may seem like good ideas - the deck can fail almost as badly as the duelist that makes them.

- Skill Drain
Based in the negation of effects, Skill Drain decks neutralize effects that can hinder the controller - that means yours and your opponent's. It can be devastating in proper hands, but the fact that it relies on a single trap card destroys it.

Grading will be based on Versatility, Speed, Synergy, and size. Keep in mind that these decks are unlikely to be very competitive, given their themes, but they can be good for those able to see beyond the meta.

Here we would like to thank Billie Hatcher, Rina Kasakura, & Sakaki Ahi for their wonderful additions to the exam, and to you, the exam taker, who decided to take this exam.

If you would also like to include a question to the exam, feel free to create a question to be added to our question pool for the exam!

Luthien

Apr 13 2008, 01:05 PM

Some of this I like some of it I don't like. I just finished grading meta's exam. From what I could tell two or three of the questions seemed a little easy. However the other questions in the exam seemed solid. (I like Rou's deck build portion over this one). I think what we should do is combine the best elements of the two exams together.

Jake Yukuma

Apr 13 2008, 01:08 PM

I say add #2 to the exam. It is a new question that you don't see in other exams.

Jake Yukuma

Apr 13 2008, 01:17 PM

Both of them are good. The one now has people to know that rulings of cards they may come in contact with while this one is more based on creative opinions.