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Let’s Make Things Right
Thomas Vo
6/27/2012 11:08:00 AM  Hey everybody! Sorry for the long hiatus, but personal obligations took up most of my time recently. However, I'm now back to talk about a topic that's been on my mind a lot lately: I want to discuss power cards, especially the right and wrong ways to use them. This topic was brought to my attention during talks about “Theor-y-oh” with some of my teammates, Tyree Tinsley, Courtney Waller, and Joe Soto, during one of our late night Skype sessions. Those Skype chats almost always end up with all of us taking turns playing matches on Dueling Network, while everyone else watches, calls out our misplays, and Questions why we made a certain move over another. The biggest thing that arose during all of this testing was seeing Duelists play a power card like Torrential Tribute, Heavy Storm, or Solemn Judgment without a follow up, and proceed to lose shortly after. That's the inspiration for today's talk.
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Torrential Trip-Ups Starting things off, I want to talk about one of my favorite cards in the game, Torrential Tribute. I love Torrential because it punishes players for over-extending; for getting greedy when they shouldn’t have. One example involving this card that I’ll remember forever, happened to me when I was playing at a regional. I started off my turn with a set Torrential Tribute. My opponent proceeded to play One for One discarding Dandylion; summoned Reborn Tengu; and walked into my Torrential. That cleared his field of T.G. Hyper Librarian, his Fluff Tokens, Tengu, and Glow-Up Bulb. I basically traded one card to get rid of three of his from his hand; two Reborn Tengus; Glow-Up Bulb; and one of his more powerful Synchro Monsters. However, what I’ve seen some people do in this situation before, is flip the Torrential the moment the One for One is played. The opponent would then follow up with a play like Reborn Tengu or Tour Guide From the Underworld and proceed to make up for the loss of their One for One. The other example I want to share is borrowed directly from Tyree. He had a face-up Kabazaul with a set Torrential Tribute. His opponent summoned Chaos Sorcerer, which he let go: he didn't activate Torrential. Tyree's opponent then summoned a Darkflare Dragon, an Eclipse Wyvern, and then banished the Wyvern for Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon. That was the point at which Tyree decided to activate Torrential, scoring a +2 in terms of card presence. Reviewing both of these examples, the moral is to try and slow roll your cards to get the most out of them. Try to make the biggest impact you can: your goal should be to gain the most advantage out of every one of your cards, while punishing your opponent for their greediness. Moving forward, here are a few things that I would do, and a few things that I won’t do, with Torrential Tribute: -I would instantly flip Torrential Tribute on Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning. However, I wouldn’t flip Torrential on a card like a Kabazaul or Sabersaurus just so I could get some damage in by clearing the field. I’ve seen numerous players flip Torrential Tribute just to clear a single monster that they could have easily attacked over on their next turn. Giving an example, if I have Torrential and my opponent summons a card like a vanilla dinosaur while I’m holding something like Card Trooper or Tour Guide From the Underworld... Just let that card go through, and on your turn you can summon the Trooper to run over the monster. Or, summon Tour Guide and if your opponent has an Effect Veiler, you can flip your Torrential to get rid of their dinosaur; burn off one of their Veilers; and end up with a Sangan securely on the field. The reason I would flip a Torrential on Black Luster Soldier is because once Soldier's on the field, you'll rarely have any cards that could easily get over it. A Tour Guide From the Underworld only lets you bump heads by going into Number 30: Acid Golem of Destruction, and there’s Dark Hole or Soul Taker, but your outs are really limited.
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A Dark And Stormy Night The next card that I want to mention is Heavy Storm. Time after time, I’ve seen someone play Heavy Storm and not have a followup. That kind of play is by far one of the most irritating, because you burned one of the best cards in your deck only to do nothing after using it. Yes, it might be good to have a free +1 early in the game, but as the Duel drags on and on, your opponent is now free to set as many cards as they want – including more bluffs – since Heavy Storm is now gone. It’s that constant fear of Heavy Storm that keeps players from over-committing to the field. Using your opponent’s fear can be to your advantage. If you’ve played this game for a decent amount of time, you’ve probably heard of the term “Pro Heavy.” It refers to a move in which you set your Heavy Storm, in order to lure your opponent into setting multiple cards. This was one of my favorite plays back during the Tele-Dad Format, where if I was going first I’d set a Heavy Storm and either Phoenix Wing Blast or Reinforcement of the Army. That would coax my opponent into setting multiple cards as well. Then, the following turn I would go off on my opponent by flipping whatever I'd set alongside Heavy, then activating Heavy itself, since they were either forced to burn a Solemn Judgment or lose a bunch of cards all at once. Another move that uses your Heavy Storm correctly can be made when you’re holding Storm and a Mystical Space Typhoon. If your opponent has a backrow of two or more cards, and you have no other protection cards to set, then there's no need to set the Mystical Space Typhoon. I’ve seen players do this countless times and see them lose their Typhoon to their opponent’s own Typhoon. Through setting your Typhoon and losing it, you give up the possibility of a free +1 later in the game, when you may have a chance to claim a monster in battle if only you could clear your opponent's back row. Even if that opportunity isn't immediately available, don't waste the possibility of it in the future.
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Slipping With Solemn Solemn Judgment has been around since what feels like the start of time, and I've seen players lose because they played it incorrectly on countless occasions. In my opinion, the longer you have Solemn set, the better your odds of winning. A good example that I have, came from watching one my close friends Marshaun Young play at a past regional in Wilson, North Carolina. Marshaun had a set Solemn Judgment that was sitting on his field turn 1, and we were entering about turn 15. I watched as he let Miracle Fusion, Dark Hole, Monster Reborn, and just card after card go by without flipping Solemn, not negating any of them. Eventually I noticed that he was ready to make a push for game, as he was down to less than 1000 life points. He summoned Rescue Rabbit, went into a Number C39: Utopia Ray that his opponent proceeded to try and flip his Solemn Judgment to negate, and that was when Marshaun flipped the Judgment that he was sitting on since turn 1. That singlehandedly won him the game. When you play Solemn Judgment, you should always look at your hand and ask yourself this one Question: if I don’t play this Solemn Judgment, will I have any answer to what my opponent brings out? If the answer is yes, then keep that Solemn set. If not, then flip it like there’s no tomorrow. I’ve seen someone flip a Solemn Judgment on a Heavy Storm to protect their Mystical Space Typhoon that they had no reason to protect. Sure, later on in the game, flipping that Solemn Judgment can bluff your opponent into believing that you have a card like Mirror Force set, but early in the game there's almost no reason to do that. With so many OTK’s running around at the moment, starting off at 4000 life points essentially spells death. A Rescue Rabbit alone would leave you under 1000 life points; a Tour Guide From the Underworld would leave you without the Life Points to activate Solemn Warning; and Dragons with a lucky mill or draw would wipe you out that turn. Solemn Judgment is one of the most powerful cards in the game, and it just gets stronger and stronger as the battle wears on. There is no card I would rather have later in the game, after I’ve established control. My opponent’s topdecking and I have full command of the Duel? Almost everything my opponent could do is rendered useless by just one trap card. Closing There are many power cards in this game, and these are just a handful of them. These cards single-handedly win games by themselves, and hopefully you guys were able to take something out of this discussion. Below in the comments section, please leave me some feedback in regards to whether or not you enjoyed this article; in addition, if there's something else you guys want to read about, feel free to let me know. With that said, I'll be attending the North American World Championship Qualifier, so hopefully I’ll be able to see many of you guys there. I’m currently crossing my fingers right now and doing everything I can to try and go to Japan come August; hopefully you guys are doing the same! -Thomas Vo Invictus 
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this card!
