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Why I'll never stop buying GME, and why you probably should
When I turned 18, there was a casino about 2 hours away on a reservation that I could get into. We'd get paid on Friday night, head to the gas station near us that would cash a paycheck, pile into my crappy little Ford, then make the drive. We'd get there a little before midnight and everyone had their own game. The second time we went, one of my friends was hypnotized by the craps table. There were 16 players standing around this sea of green, and every minute or so, you could hear them screaming at the top of their lungs like they just won a million dollars. On the way home that night, I taught him everything I learned from books I'd read about the different bets. "Smart" bets where the house edge was only 1.4%, all the way down to the risky ones where the house edge was over 10% (meaning that for every $100 wagered, you should expect to lose $10). The next time we went, we hung around the table, trying to figure out the right way to bet. It seemed a little complicated, so we tried other games. At the end of the night, I had the last $10 and he asked if he could borrow it to go place a bet. I handed it over, then went to the bathroom in preparation for the ride home. When I finally found him again, he had a stack of chips in front of him. He had been gone for about 5 minutes and already turned $10 into a few hundred. Well, if you can turn 10 into 100, you can turn 100 into 1,000 just as easily. We left empty handed that night, but I'll never forget the rush. I loved blackjack. I learned how to play at an early age from my uncle, who would always cheat and take my money. He'd say "I just taught you a very valuable lesson." He actually taught me two: 1) if you play against a casino, you may have a good night and win thousands of dollars, but if you keep going back, you'll eventually have nothing left. 2) My uncle was a scumbag who continually cheated and took my money, then told the family I was a poor sport and they couldn't understand why I hated doing anything with him. One of my earliest memories at the casino was running $100 at the blackjack table into $3000, which is more than I made in a month of bussing tables. I went home, paid my rent and blew the rest on useless things I can't even remember. What does any of this have to do with $GME? Well I'm still chasing the same high as I was when I was 18. I don't go to the casino anymore, but I've got something even better on my computer. I bought $2k worth of weeklies on Jan 25. Before everything crashed, they were worth over $100k, more than enough to fix most of the problems I've caused in my life. BUT, I was still standing around that craps table. The roller had just made his 30th point in a row, $GME was on fire and couldn't possibly roll a 7! I put my 2k back in my pocket and shoved the rest on the pass line. A few minutes later, the croupier inevitably yells "7 out!" and just like that, I'm back to nothing. Now I do what every moron around the table does. You reach back into your pocket, pull out the 2k and make a deal with your maker. "Just let it happen one more time. I won't be greedy THIS time and I'll stop when I hit 50k." I stop looking at the smart bets and start eyeing the center of the table, where hard ways are paying 10:1. Yeah, that'll be how I get back to 50k. A couple of those in a row and I can put a down payment on a house. 5 minutes later, I'm on my way out to the car and I feel like I've been punched in the gut. Again. Every one of you in this subreddit is another person sitting at the casino. Everyone has their game. The people holding $GME stonks right now? You're playing baccarat. If you've never heard of it, it's what James Bond plays in the old movies. It's about the most boring thing you can do. Two hands are dealt and you're betting on which one wins before anything happens. There's no actual skill and it's the same thing as betting heads or tails, while losing 1% of your bet every time. The people who cashed out and picked something else like $AMC or $BB? Those are the slot players. You had a big hit and now you're going to switch machines because the other ones are "due". You're looking for the exact same magic, thinking there was something smart in your play, when it was really just dumb luck in timing. The people saying "If Daddy Elon or Cowboy Cuban gets in, we can trigger a squeeze!" You're the guy who spent too much money in the first 20 minutes of the trip and now you're begging everyone else for a loan. Tldr: Nothing is happening with $GME. Stop saying "tomorrow is the day." Billionaires are not coming to bail you out. If institutional investors come in, they're waiting for this constant downhill slide to end at where the stock belongs, probably around $20. You can't trigger shit by holding. The HFs will outlast you. Edit: Screenshots from the worst 40 minutes of my financial life https://imgur.com/a/MlTRJmx Edit 2: JFC, some of you are takin WSB way too seriously. You should not be using reddit for DD. Also, this is not financial advice. Don't take financial advice from someone who tells you stories about chasing highs at casinos. Edit 3: This is WSB, my dudes. I'm glad most of you were entertained by my story. For the few of you who got that worked up by a random stranger on the internet telling you that he's a degenerate, you may actually have a problem. https://www.ncpgambling.org/help-treatment/
[1.1 Update] Complete List of Verified Perks (Working / Not Working / Partially Working) [WIP]
Update: All items and perks testing completed. Still updating based on feedback as it comes in. I'll update the text below soon. Update: Added a tab for bonuses per skill level and attribute level Update: Tested the non functioning (Partially or Not Working) perks/items for the 1.11 hotfix. Several changes noted in the change log. I think I'll reserve testing the whole list for more significant updates, but definitely looking out for people posting/messaging about things they found that are not working/working. Already got 1 perk not working that was before.
Up to date Perks and Items and Skill Levels Testing can be found here: Link to Spreadsheet
Hope you guys find this helpful! Reddit list last updated: 1/26/2021
Body - Athletics
Regeneration: "Health slowly regenerates during combat."
Working
With this perk alone, regen starts only below 60% and heals up to 60%.
Invincible: "Increases max health by 10%."
Working
Only applies to base HP. 10% of base HP at lvl 50 = 43 HP.
Pack Mule: "Increases carrying capacity by 60."
Working
Divided Attention: "Allows you to reload weapons while sprinting, sliding, and vaulting."
Working
Epimorphosis: "Health regenerates up to 70% of max Health outside of combat."
Working
True Grit: "Increases max stamina by 10%."
Working
Only applies to base stamina. 10% of base stamina at lvl 50 = 15 stamina.
Soft on your feet: "Reduces fall damage by 5%."
Working
Gladiator: "Reduces the amount of Stamina consumed when blocking melee attacks by 20%."
Not Working
Steel and Chrome: "Increases melee damage by 10%."
Working
Multitasker: "Allows you to shoot while sprinting, sliding, and vaulting."
Working
Aiming while vaulting doesn't use any sights, but works for firing.
Like a Butterfly: "Dodging does not drain Stamina."
Working
Stronger Together: "Increases damage you deal while carrying a body."
Working
Still requires Trasporter perk to fire shots, and the increase is about 2x
Cardio Cure: "Health regenerates 25% faster as you move."
Overworking
Regeneration bonus active at all times. Also confirmed moving/still is the same
Transporter: "Allows you to shoot with Pistols and Revolvers or sprint while carrying a body."
Working
Human Shield: "Increases armor by 20% when grappling an enemy."
Working
Marathoner: "Sprinting does not drain Stamina."
Working
Dog of War: "Increases Health regen in combat by 15%"
Working
Note: Saving all health regen tests for last. They're the most annoying
Wolverine: "Health regen activates 50% faster during combat."
Working
90% faster activation might not be right, but it's definitely faster. Hard to tell when this counter officially starts when in combat.
Steel Shell: "Increases armor by 10%."
Working
The Rock: "Enemies cannot knock you down."
Working
Tested using cars again. You really have to be just on the edge to avoid death.
Indestructible: "Reduces all damage by 10%."
Working
Hard Motherfucker: "When entering combat, Armor and Resistances increase by 10% for 10 sec. +1% per level."
Not Working
This perk only works the first save instance where you learn it. Reloading the save will disable the perk no matter how many points you put into it.
Body - Annihilation
Speed Demon: "You deal more damage the faster you're moving."
Working
Only applies to Shotguns and LMGs. Walking was around 1.5x, Running 2x, Speed glitches 4x+
Manic: "When entering combat, your movement speed increases by 20% for 10 sec."
Working
Only applies to Shotguns and LMGs.
Burn Baby Burn: "Doubles the duration of Burn"
Working
Works for Quickhacks (Overheat) and burn applied with other weapons than SG/LMG
Mongoose: "Increases Evasion by 25% while reloading."
Not Working
All evasion related stats not working.
Momentum Shift: "Defeating an enemy increases movement speed by 10% for 10 sec."
Working
Can only see difference on SG/LMG kills.
Massacre: "Increases Crit Damage with Shotguns and Light Machine Guns by 15%"
Working
Pump it, Louder!: "Reduces recoil of Shotguns and Light Machine Guns by 10%."
Not Working
Tested only using LMGs and the recoil pattern on fully automatic firing.
Hail of Bullets: "Shotguns and Light Machine Guns deal 3% more damage."
Working
Damage increase doesn't show on weapon, but shows in final damage numbers on enemies
In Your Face: "Reduces reload time of Shotguns and Light Machine Guns by 20%."
Working
Bloodbath: "Dismembering enemies reduces weapon recoil by 50% for 6 sec."
Not Working
May not be tested properly. I can only dismember consistently with a SG, and switched to LMG to see recoil. That could mess with the buff, not sure.
Bulldozer: "Increases Crit Chance with Shotguns and Light Machine Guns by 10%."
Working
Bloodrush: "Increases movement speed in combat by 5% while carrying a Shotgun or Light Machine Gun."
Working
Dead Center: "Increases damage to torsos by 10%."
Working
Only applies to Shotguns and LMGs
Heavy Lead: "Shotguns and Light Machine Guns knock back enemies with more force."
Partially Working
Retested in 1.1.. I'm actually not sure anymore. Hard to eyeball distance so marking as partially
Skeet Shooter: "Deal 15% more damage to moving targets."
Working
Only applies to Shotguns and LMGs
Unstoppable: "Dismembering an enemy increases fire rate by 10% for 8 sec. Stacks up to 3 times."
Working
Only applies to Shotguns and LMGs
Biathlete: "Weapon spread does not increase while moving."
Not Working
Several opinions saying spread does not change, with or without the perk.
Poppin' Off: "Shotguns have 25% higher chance of dismembering enemies."
Not Working
Used a carnage again, but I do have trouble dismembering consistently. The smart shotgun shreds too much to use for comparison, so if anyone has any ideas please message me on reddit with them.
Hit The Deck: "Increases damage to staggered and knocked-down enemies by 10%."
Not Working
Only tested on Knocked Down enemies. Staggering with Carnage barely leaves any time to fire again
Body - Street Brawler
Thrash: "Strong Attacks with Blunt Weapons reduce the target's Armor by 30% for 10 sec."
Working
Enemies don't have armor. What this does very accurately though is increase damage against these enmies by 30%
Frenzy: "Defeating an enemy increases damage with Blunt Weapons by 100% for 10 sec."
Working
Biding Time: "Blocking attacks with a Blunt Weapon restores 5% Health."
Working
Countering does not count as a block in this case.
Human Fortress: "Reduces the Stamina cost of blocking attacks by 50% while using a Blunt Weapon."
Working
Stun duration is short and can be seen with a teal icon above their head and a timer ticking down.
Opportune Strike: "Increases damage with Blunt Weapons against enemies affected by Stun by 50%."
Working
Payback: "Increases damage with Blunt Weapons by 1% for every 1% of missing Health"
Working
Working, but I don't know how low you can take this. It worked while I was around 40-50% HP
Juggernaut: "Increases Armor by 15% while blocking with a Blunt Weapon."
Not Working
Flurry: "Increases damage from combo attacks with Blunt Weapons by 30%."
Working
Crushing Blows: "Increases damage from Strong Attacks with Blunt Weapons by 30%."
Working
Rush: "Successful attacks with Blunt Weapons regenerate 3% Health over 2 Sec."
Working
Dazed: "All attacks with Blunt Weapons have a 15% chance to Stun."
Working
Efficient Blows: "Reduces the Stamina cost of all attacks with Blunt Weapons by 25%."
Working
Guerrilla: "Increases Crit Damage for 10 sec. after entering combat. +2% per level."
Not Working
This perk only works the first save instance where you learn it. Reloading the save will disable the perk no matter how many points you put into it.
Relentless: "Successful attacks with Blunt Weapons against enemies affected by Stun restore 20% Stamina."
Working
Reinvigorate: "Defeating an enemy by performing a Strong Attack with a Blunt Weapon restores 10% Stamina."
Not Working
Breathing Space: "Increases Stamina regen while blocking with Blunt Weapons by 50%"
Working
Unshakeable: "Successful attacks with Blunt Weapons against enemies affected by Stun restore 5% Health and 5% Stamina."
Working
Reflexes - Assault
Bulletjock: "Increases damage with rifles by 3%."
Working
Eagle Eye: "Reduces time to aim down sight with Rifles and Submachine Guns by 10%."
Working
Covering Killshot: "Increases Crit Chance with Rifles by 10% when firing from behind cover."
Working
Note: Behind cover without aiming down sights does not count. I had to aim for the crit chance to work.
Too Close For Comfort: "Quick melee attacks with Rifles deal 50% more damage."
Working
Bullseye: "Increases Rifle and Sumachine Gun damage while aiming by 10%"
Working
Executioner: "Deal 25% more damage with Rifles and Submachine Guns to enemies whose Health is above 50%."
Working
Duck Hunter: "Increases Rifle and Submachine Gun damage to moving enemies by 10%"
Working
Shoot, Reload, Repeat: "Defeating an enemy with a Rifle or Submachine Gun reduces reload time by 20% for 5 seconds."
Working
Nerves of Steel: "Increases headshot damage with Sniper Rifles and Rrecision Rifles by 20%."
Working
Tested again as working. Sniper rifles have high multipliers by default so it's hard to tell. Used the precision rifle and it was more noticeable
Feel the Flow: "Reduces reload time for Assault Rifles and Submachine Guns by 10%."
Working
Trench Warfare: "Increases Rifle and Submachine Gun damage by 5% when firing from behind cover."
Working
Hunter's Hands: "Reduces recoil with Rifles and Submachine Guns by 20% when firing from behind cover."
Partially Working
Tested with Copperhead. Vertical recoil is lower, but not by much... definitely not 40% at level 2
Named Bullets: "Increases Crit Damage with Rifles and Submachine Guns by 35%."
Working
Skull Skipper: "Each headshot reduces recoil with Rifles and Submachine Guns by 5% for 10 sec. Stacks up to 5 times."
Working
Retested and it seems to work.
Bunker: "Increases Armor and Resistances by 15% when shooting with Rifles and Submachine Guns from behind cover."
Not Working
Recoil Wrangler: "Reduces recoil with Rifles and Submachine Guns by 10%."
Not Working
In Perspective: "Bullets fired from Rifles and Submachine Guns ricochet an additional 2 time(s)."
Working
Long Shot: "Rifle and Submachine Gun damage increases the farther you are located from enemies."
Working
23.6 distance for 100% additional weapon damage. Distance can be measured with the Grandstead scope. It's shown on the top right corner of the rectangle in the sight
Savage Stoic: "Increases damage with Rifles and Submachine Guns by 35% when standing still."
Working
Punisher: "After defeating an enemy with a Rifle or Submachine Gun, weapon sway is nullified and weapon spread does not increase for 10 sec. +0.2 sec. per Perk level."
Not Working
Reflexes - Handguns
Gunslinger: "Reduces reload time for Pistols and Revolvers by 10%."
Working
High Noon: "Increases Crit Chance with Pistols and Revolvers by 4%."
Working
Rio Bravo: "Increases headshot damage multiplier with Pistols and Revolvers by 10%."
Working
Desperado: "Increases damage with Pistols and Revolvers by 3%."
Working
On the Fly: "Reduces draw/holster time for Pistols and Revolvers by 25%."
Working
Long Shot Drop Pop: "Increases damage with Pistols and Revolvers to enemies 5+ meters away by 15%."
Working
O.K. Corral: "Deal 50% more damage with Pistols and Revolvers to enemies whose Health is below 25%."
Working
Steady Hand: "Reduces Pistol and Revolver recoil by 30%."
Working
Previously not working. Used a Lexington and the recoil firing the whole clip did look lower.
Vanishing Point: "Evasion increases by 25% for 6 sec. after performing a dodge with a Pistol or Revolver equipped."
Not Working
From Head to Toe: "Increases damage to limbs with Pistols and Revolvers by 7%."
Working
A Fistful of Eurodollars: "Increases Crit Damage with Pistols and Revolvers by 10%."
Working
Acrobat: "You can now perform dodges while aiming a Pistol or Revolver."
Working
Fixed. Note that most people are probably wearing Kerenzikov, which actually enables this anyways
Grand Finale: "The last round in a Pistol or Revolver clip deals double damage."
Working
Attritional Fire: "Firing consecutive shots with a Pistol or Revolver at the same target increases damage by 10%."
Not Working
Previously working, but I can't remember how solid the test in the past was on this one.
Wild West: "Removes the damage penalty from Pistols and Revolvers when shooting from a distance."
Working
Westworld: "Increases Crit Chance for Pistols and Revolvers by 10% if fully modded."
Working
Fully modded means every slot is filled, regardless of rarity or number of slots
Snowball Effect: "After defeating an enemy, fire rate for Pistols and Revolvers increases by 5% for 6 sec. Stacks up to 5 times."
Not Working
Tested again with Lexington, can't see any difference at max stacks
Lead Sponge: "Enables you to shoot with Pistols and Revolvers while dodging."
Working
You can already do this with Kerenzikov
Brainpower: "After a successful headshot with a Pistol or Revolver, Crit Chance increases by 25% for 5 sec."
Working
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: "After a successful Crit Hit with a Pistol or Revolver, damage and Armor increase by 30% for 5 seconds. +1% per Perk level."
Not Working
This perk only works the first save instance where you learn it. Reloading the save will disable the perk no matter how many points you put into it.
Reflexes - Blades
Sting Like a Bee: "Increases attack speed with Blades by 10%."
Working
Only works if weapon is not at attack speed cap. See appendix for more info.
Roaring Waters: "Strong Attacks with Blades deal 30% more damage."
Working
Crimson Dance: "Combos with Blades have a 15% chance to apply Bleeding."
Working
Slow and Steady: "Armor is increased by 15% while moving."
Working
Only applies when holding a blade. Also do not have to be moving.
Flight of the Sparrow: "Reduces the Stamina cost of all attack with Blades by 30%"
Working
Offensive Defense: "Defensive Attacks with Blades deal 200% more damage."
Working
Shifting Sands: "Dodging recovers 15% Stamina."
Partially Working
Hidden cooldown applied for stamina recovery. Dodging continuously, 1 in 3 recovered stamina.
Stuck Pig: "Increases Bleeding duration by 3 sec."
Working
Only extends Bleeds applied by Blades
Blessed Blade: "Increases Crit Chance with Blades by 20%."
Working
Unbroken Spirit: "Successful Counterattacks with Blades restore 25% Health and Stamina."
Working
Previously didn't work for me. Retested, working now
Bloodlust: "While wielding a Blade, recovers 7% Health when applying Bleeding to an enemy or hitting an enemy affected by Bleeding."
Partially Working
Only healed on first hit on a bleeding enemy. All other cases did not heal.
Float Like a Butterfly: "Dodging increases damage with Blades by 35% for 5 sec."
Working
Judge, Jury, and Executioner: "Increases damage with Blades by 50% against enemies with max Health."
Working
Fiery Blast: "Increases damage with Blades by 1% for every 1% of Health the enemy is missing."
Working
Not 100% sure, but it felt like there was a cap in bonus damage. My damage went up to double.
Crimson Tide: "Bleeding applied with Blades can stack 3 times."
Working
Stacking = applied at the same time, not extending the time.
Deathbolt: "While wielding a Blade, defeating an enemy restores 20% Health and increases movement speed by 30% for 5 sec."
Working
Dragon Strike: "Increases Crit Damage with Blades by 25%. +1% per Perk level."
Not Working
This perk only works the first save instance where you learn it. Reloading the save will disable the perk no matter how many points you put into it.
Intelligence - Breach Protocol
Big Sleep: "Unlocks the Big Sleep daemon, which disables all cameras in the network for 3 min."
Working
Mass Vulnerability: "Unlocks the Mass Vulnerability daemon, which reduces the Physical Resistance for all enemies in the network by 30% for 3 min."
Working
Retested for 1.1 and it is 100% working. Physical resistance doens't appear to show in the "Weaknesses" section when you scan enemies
Almost In!: "Increases the breach time for Breach Protocol by 20%."
Working
Advanced Datamine: "Upgrades the Datamine daemon, increasing the amount of eurodollars acquired from Access Points by 50%."
Working
Mass Vulnerability: Resistances: "Upgrades the Mass Vulnerability daemon, reducing all Resistances for enemies in the network by 30%."
Working
Note that this Daemon isn't an option without Mass Vulnerability.
Datamine Mastermind: "Upgrades the Datamine daemon, increasing the amount of components acquired from Access Points by 50%."
Working
The amount gained is different. Some more than 100%, and no extra legendary components
Turret Shutdown: "Unlocks the Turret Shutdown daemon, which disables security turrets in the network for 3 min."
Working
Total Recall: "The ICEpick daemon reduces all quickhack costs by an additional 1 RAM unit(s)."
Working
Turret Tamer: "Unlocks the Turret Tamer daemon, which sets the status of every turret in the network to friendly for 3 min."
Working
Datamine Virtuoso: "Upgrades the Datamine daemon, increasing the chance to acquire a quickhack from Access Points by 50%."
Working
Not really easy to test, but over time with this maxed I was almost always getting an upgraded quickhack from access points
Cloud Cache: "Completing a Breach Protocol reduces the RAM cost of your next quickhack by 1 time(s) the number of daemons uploaded."
Working
Efficiency: "Uploading 3 or more daemons in the same Breach Protocol increases cyberdeck RAM recovery rate by 3 unit(s) per 60 sec. Lasts 5 min."
Working
Mass Vulnerability: Quickhacks: "Upgrades the Mass Vulnerability daemon, causing enemies in the network to also take 30% more damage from quickhacks."
Working
Totaler Recall: "The ICEpick daemon reduces all quickhack costs by an additional 1 RAM unit(s)."
Working
Head Start: "Automatically uploads the first daemon in the list at the start of Breach Protocol."
Working
Hackathon: "Uploading 3 or more daemons in the same Breach Protocol shortens quickhack cooldowns by 33% for 5 min."
Working
Buffer Optimization: "Increases the duration of daemon effects by 100%."
Working
Compression: "Reduces the lengths of the sequences required to upload daemons by 1. Cannot be reduced below 2."
Working
Transmigration: "Increases the breach time of Breach Protocol by 50%. +5% per Perk level."
Not working
Intelligence - Quickhacking
Bloodware: "Quickhacks deal 10% more damage."
Working
Damage increase seems lower than described. Suspected lower base damage not visible to players for Quickhacks
Biosynergy: "Allows RAM to recover during combat. Recover 4 RAM unit(s) every 60 sec."
Working
Forget-me-not: "Eliminating a target affected by a quickhack instantly recovers 1 RAM unit(s)."
Working
Hacker's Manual: "Unlocks Crafting Specs for Uncommon quickhacks."
Working
I Spy: "Reveals an enemy netrunner when they're attempting to hack you."
Working
Weak Link: "Reduces the required cyberdeck RAM for quickhacks used on devices by 1 unit(s)."
Working
Can't go below 1 RAM Cost
Daisy Chain: "Eliminating a target affected by a quickhack reduces the existing cooldowns for all other active quickhacks by 10%."
Overworking
Still reduces CD to and not by the described percent
Signal Support: "Increases quickhack duration by 25%."
Working
Don't see a description change of duration on Ultimate quickhacks
Subliminal Message: "Quickhacks deal 50% more damage to unaware targets."
Working
50% and 100% at level 2 are not applied on the final damage number, it's applied on a smaller base damage.
Diffusion: "Quickhack spread distance is increased by 2 times."
Working
Can only confirm the distance is increased, but not that it's actually 2x
Mnemonic: "Reduces the cost of quickhacks used against an enemy already affected by a quickhack by 2 RAM units."
Working
School of Hard Hacks: "Unlocks Crafting Specs for Rare quickhacks."
Working
Plague: "Quickhacks that spread can jump to 1 additional targets."
Working
Hacker Overlord: "Unlocks Crafting Specs for Epic quickhacks."
Working
Critical Error: "Quickhacks can now deal Crit Hits based on your Crit Chance and Crit Damage stats."
Working
Anamnesis: "Available cyberdeck RAM cannot drop below 2 unit(s)."
Partially Working
This works in a very different way than described. The description should read "Resets your RAM to 2/3/4 when you reach 0 RAM and have not initiated ANY recovery of RAM at all." The last part meaning you have to actually 0 out and if any recovery happens along the way, it does not work. Recovery can be stalled with opening your menu or spamming lower level quickhacks with low cost, or doing what I did: Found a perfect combination of quickhack costs to execute on a group of enemies to 0 out immediately.
Bartmoss' Legacy: "Unlocks Crafting Specs for Legendary quickhacks."
Working
Optimization: "Reduces the cost of quickhacks by 1 RAM unit(s)."
Working
Master RAM Liberator: "Increase RAM recovery rate by 50%."
Partially Working
The 50% bonus is actually not working, but the 1% per level is working (I tested with 50 points into the perk which is what made it look like it was working)
Technical Abilities - Crafting
Mechanic: "Gain more components when disassembling."
Working
Scrapper: "Junk items are automatically disassembled."
Working
True Craftsman: "Allows you to craft Rare items."
Working
Workshop: "Disassembling items grants a 5% chance to gain a free component of the same quality as the disassembled item."
Working
Innovation: "Consumables are 25% more effective."
Working
Accurate translation: Consumables that provide timed buffs last 25% longer.
Sapper: "Grenades deal 10% more damage."
Not Working
Not retesting this. I've done this so many times and even if it does work the damage range on grenades is too wide to tell
200% Efficiency: "Crafted clothes gain 2.5% more armor."
Not Working
Still not working. Tested on hats that have consistent armor
Field Technician: "Crafted weapons deals 2.5% more damage."
Partially Working
Still not working on Melee wapons. The increase in damage I saw on Katana was more like 1% at max perk leve
Grease Monkey: "Allows you to craft Epic items."
Working
Efficient Upgrades: "Grants a 10% chance to upgrade an item for free."
Working
Ex Nihilo: "Grants a 20% chance to craft an item for free."
Working
Let there be light!: "Reduces the component cost of upgrading items by 10%"
Working
Cost Optimization: "Reduces the component cost of crafting items by 15%"
Working
Tune-up: "Allows you to upgrade lower quality components into higher quality ones."
Working
Waste not want not: "When disassembling an item, you get attached mods back."
Working
Edgerunner Artisan: "Allows you to craft Legendary items."
Working
Crazy Science: "Increases the sale price of crafted items by 10%. +1% per Perk level."
Partially Working
Only works until you reload your save, in which case it stops working.
Cutting Edge: "Improves damages and all damage-related stats of crafted weapons by 5%."
Partially Working
Still not working on Melee. Keep in mind for Ranged, a 5% increase in all the stats is actually a lot more than 5% increase in overall DPS in the end
Technical Abilities - Engineering
Blast Shielding: "Reduces damage taken from explosions by 10%."
Working
But even with the highest HP value possible, it is still impossible to survive an explosion. Tested with mods.
Mech Looter: "When looting drones, mechs and robots, there is a 25% chance of looting a weapon mod or attachment."
Not Working
Can't touch this: "Grants immunity to all effects from your own grenades."
Partially Working
NOTE: This works for every grenade type EXCEPT Flashbangs. So it's mostly working.
Grenadier: "The explosion radius of grenades is visible."
Working
Shrapnel: "All grenade types deal 20 damage in addition to their normal types."
Not Working
Tested and don't see any difference
Up to 11: "Allows you to charge Tech weapons up to 75% capacity."
Working
Note that Tech weapons do NOT charge to 100% by default. They charge up to 50%, which is relevant to other perks in the tree that mention full charge.
Lock and load: "Increases Smart weapons reload speed by 5%."
Working
Bladerunner: "Increase damage to drones, mech and robots by 20%."
Working
Bigger Booms: "Grenades deal 5% more damage."
Not Working
Can't see a difference. Like I noted above, the damage range is too wide to tell any difference
Lighting Bolt: "Increases Crit Chance with Tech weapons by 3%."
Working
Tesla: "Increase the charge multiplier for Tech weapons by 15%."
Working
Gun Whisperer: "Fully charged Tech weapons do not shoot automatically."
Working
Does not work for the DR12 Quasar and Kenshin Pistols
Ubercharge: "Fully charged Tech weapons deal 50% more damage."
Working
Needs "Up To 11" Perk to work. Tested originally with the Kenshin pistol and it did not work. Quasar worked, so please message me if you see that it doesn't work for certain tech guns.
Insulation: "Grants immunity to shock."
Working
Shock = electric damage. Electricity on ground = electric. Enemy attacks applying shock = electric. Enemy grenades = EMP (so not electric damage), meaning this will not prevent damage from grenades. I don't know what other sources of EMP there are, but this is consistent with the clothing mod as well.
Fuck all walls: "Reduces the charge amount needed for Tech weapons to penetrate walls by 30%."
Working
This is really hard to tell. Never had much issue having tech guns pierce walls, and the charge is pretty fast so I could be wrong.
Play the angles: "Ricochets deal an additional 50% damage."
Not Working
Lickety Split: "Tech weapons charge time is reduced by 10%."
Working
Superconductor: "Tech weapons ignore Armor."
Not Working
Revamp: "Increases damage Tech weapons by 25%, increases charges damage from all chargeable weapons and cyberware by 10%. +1% charge damage per Perk level."
Not Working
Only works after the first time learning the perk. Reloading save disables the perk.
Jackpot: "Enables grenades to deal Crit Hits."
Working
Cool - Stealth
Silent And Deadly: "Increases damage dealt by silenced weapons by 25% while sneaking."
Working
Crouching Tiger: "Increases movement speed while sneaking by 20%."
Working
Hidden Dragon: "Allows you to perform lethal or non-lethal aerial takedowns on unaware targets."
Working
Dagger Dealer: "Allows you to throw knives. Hold L2 to aim and press R2 to throw."
Working
Still doesn't return the knife, but you can definitely throw them lol
Leg Up: "Movement speed after a successful takedown is increased by 30% for 10 sec."
Working
Strike From The Shadows: "Increases your Crit Chance by 15% while sneaking."
Working
Assassin: "Deal 15% more damage to human enemies."
Working
Sniper: "Increases damage from headshots fired from outside combat by 30%."
Working
Cutthroat: "Thrown knives deal 30% more damage."
Working
Aggressive Antitoxins: "Grants immunity to Poison."
Working
Clean Work: "You can pick up an enemy's body immediately after performing a takedown by holding R3."
Working
Stunning Blows: "Quick Melee Attacks with ranged weapons stagger enemies, giving you an opportunity to grapple them."
Working
From The Shadows: "Upon entering combat, Crit Chance increases by 25% for 7 sec."
Working
Ghost: "Detection time is increased by 20%."
Working
Commando: "You cannot be detected under water."
No One Cares
Pretty sure in 1.1 this still holds true
Venomous Fangs: "All knives apply Poison."
Working
Rattlesnake: "Enemies affected by Poison are slowed."
Not Working
In combat they still move the same.
Silent Finisher: "Enemies with less than 15% Health are defeated instantly when attacked with a Knife. Does not work on enemies with a Very High threat level."
Working
Hasty Retreat: "Temporarily boosts movement speed by 50% for 5 sec. when detected by an enemy."
Working
Restorative Shadows: "While in stealth, increases Health regen by 25%."
Working
Neurotoxin: "Damage from Poison is doubled."
Working
Does not work with Contagion, but worked with all other sources of poison
Hasten The Inevitable: "Deal 20% more damage to enemies affected by Poison."
Overworking
Still works on every weapon with or without poison.
Cheat Death: "When your Health drops below 50%, reduce all incoming damage by 50% for 10 sec. Cannot occur more than once per minute."
Working
Ninjutsu: "Crouch Attacks from stealth with melee weapons deal 100% more damage."
Not Working
Only worked specifically with Baseball bats. Nothing else.
Toxicology: "Increases the duration of Poison applied to enemies by 5 seconds. +0.2 sec. per Perk level."
Not Working
This perk doesn't work even before reloading the save.
Cool - Cold Blood
Cold Blood: "After defeating an enemy, gain Cold Blood for 10 sec. and increase movement speed by 2%. Stacks up to 1 time."
Working
Will to Survive: "Increases all Resistances by 2.5% per stack of Cold Blood."
Working
Icy Veins: "Reduces weapon recoil by 2.5% per stack of Cold Blood."
Not Working
Retested using a Copperhead assault rifle. 5 stacks recoil pattern looked the same as no stacks
Frosty Synapses: "Reduces quickhack cooldowns by 3% per stack of Cold Blood."
Working
Previously not working, working now. Tested with Suicide
Critical Condition: "Increases duration of Cold Blood by 5 sec."
Working
Rapid Bloodflow: "Increase Health regen inside and outside combat by 50% per stack of Cold Blood."
Working
Defensive Clotting: "Increases Armor by 10% per stack of Cold Blood."
Working
Coldest Blood: "Increases max stack amount for Cold Blood by 1."
Working
Frozen Precision: "Increases headshot damage by 50%."
Working
Hard to tell even with a low headshot multiplier weapon. Shows on the weapon, with or without cold blood stacks.
Blood Brawl: "While Cold Blood is active, increases damage with melee weapons by 5%."
Working
Easy to mistake as this being a stacking perk. It's only a flat 10% increase with Cold Blood active, regardless of stacks
Predator: "Increases attack speed by 10% per stack of Cold Blood."
Working
Works up to your melee weapon's attack speed cap. See Appendix for details.
Quick Transfer: "Reduces quickhack upload time by 1% per stack of Cold Blood."
Working
Cold and Calculating: "Landing a Crit Hit has 25% chance of applying a stack of Cold Blood."
Working
Bloodswell: "When your Health reaches 45%, a max stack of Cold Blood is automatically activated."
Working
Does apply max stacks, but reminder that without Coolagulant all stacks will remove at once.
Coolagulant: "Stacks of Cold Blood are removed one by one, not all at once."
Working
Unbreakable: "Increases max stack amount for Cold Blood by 1."
Working
Pain Is An Illusion: "While Cold Blood is active, reduces damage taken by 5%."
Working
Immunity: "While Cold Blood is active, you are immune to Bleeding, Poison, Burn and Shock."
Working
NOTE: I don't see this working with Shock. If anyone can confirm please let me know
Merciless: "While Cold Blood is active, increases Crit Chance by 10% and Crit Damage by 25%. +1% Crit Chance and +3% Crit Damage per Perk level."
Not Working
This perk only works the first save instance where you learn it. Reloading the save will disable the perk no matter how many points you put into it.
i'm starting to feel like modern Yugioh is a clown car, and every time the banlist apprehends the first few clowns that lead the format, 4-5 more step out to take their place. we didn't even have Linkross in handcuffs yet before VFD took the wheel and Vanity's Ruler got into the passenger seat. happy new year
This post will give recommendations for decks that can generally do well while generally remaining in the $50 to $150 price range.
Estimated pricing includes a sample completed main deck and some or all of an extra deck, but no side.
Pricing is based mainly on singles and you can easily save a lot of money by buying cores for most of these lists all at once.
Decks were chosen usually based on having some degree of success in recent TCG formats.
These deck choices and rankings are heavily based on online tournaments such as Konami's Remote Duel Invitationals, LCS, and other assorted online events.
Performance on DuelingBook's ranked ladder also slightly factors in to the placement of these decks, with data taken from Ygoscope.
Many decklists will include some middle-range power cards that might drive the price point up, which can be cut for players on an extreme budget. For instance, a set of Ash is $25-30 currently, but Ash is included in many of these lists as a generic staple that players might already own.
Conversely, decklists are oftentimes easily upgraded by adding power cards such as Forbidden Droplet and Triple Tactics Talent.
Decks are grouped into four "tiers" and listed alphabetically by tier. Decklists are built prioritizing simplicity and effectiveness on a budget. Not all of them are perfect, but this post is not an F. Unless there is a particularly offensive deckbuilding error that you want to point out, please don't use this thread to nitpick at the sample decklists. Don't feel obligated to stick to the sample lists either; you should experiment and play cards that feel comfortable and/or optimal to you. Feel free to leave suggestions for budget players, whether it's a budget tech choice for one of the decks on this list or whether it's a different deck that you think can compete in the coming months. [Last updated: 23 Jan 2021] Previous version: October 2020 Post
S Tier
The best bang for your buck. Decks in this category have the capacity to top premier events, though they're almost always supplemented with expensive power cards.
New Ritual-based combo deck from Genesis Impact that has a lot of recursion from the Graveyard, boasting a strong grind game as well as potent turn 1 boards that can win the game outright.
The level 1 Drytron cards tribute other Drytron cards or Ritual cards in hand/field, so this deck abuses Cyber Angel Benten's lack of a once per turn clause to gain a ton of resources and search a lot of power LIGHT Fairy cards, such as Herald of Orange Light and Vanity's Ruler.
Drytron Nova is an automatic 3-of inclusion in every competitive version of this deck, but also currently sits at around $40 each in NA. Novas are a massive boost in consistency, though the deck is honestly still playable without it, and is quite cheap otherwise. With even one copy of Nova, you should look to also include three copies of Drytron Fafnir (their Field Spell) which can search Nova as well.
The absence of Nova + Fafnir from the main leaves a lot of space to be filled. There are many ways you can go about this.
The sample list plays a small Pre-Prep engine with Herald of Perfection. It's very simple to play, especially if you're unfamiliar with the deck, and helps raise your overall ceiling - athough optimized competitive builds have generally moved away from Pre-Prep.
Another viable Ritual engine is the Megalith engine, which provides numerous options. These variants generally also suffer from consistency issues, made worse by the lack of Novas in the budget version. Less consistent access to Alpha means less consistent usage of extra Ritual monsters.
You could play cards that search Drytron monsters in an attempt to patch up consistency. Examples include Where Arf Thou, or normal summons that fetch Drytrons such as Cyber Dragon Core (getting Emergency) and Mathematician. Also viable is Neo-Spacian Aqua Dolphin, which is an interesting tech in Drytron that helps you beat handtraps like Droll & Lock Bird.
Finally, you can always just play more handtraps or generic power cards.
This deck is a relatively new deck, and is getting support in Lightning Overdrive, which might indicate that it's relatively safe from the next banlist. However, there's no telling what Konami will do, so don't take my word as gospel.
Combo deck with an extra deck toolbox, using Synchro and Xyz monsters to break boards or to win the game with True King of All Calamities and their recurring boss monster, Shenshen. The Virtual World monsters have a shared restriction which means that Link monsters are usually not played in this deck at all.
Most of the main deck VW monsters can dump other VW cards from Deck to GY, and their continuous spell Qinglong is a searcher in the GY. Combined with Virtual World Mai-Hime - Lulu's ability to search for VW cards as well, the deck is consistent at doing the same combos and executing its gameplan almost every game, as most combinations of 2 Virtual World cards result in some type of combo.
Despite being one of the top decks in the format, this deck is also quite cheap. Staples aside, the most pricey card in the main is Lulu at around $18-20 each. Can you get away with fewer copies of her? Probably, but you really want to get 3 due to Desires, and her being one of the best cards in your deck.
Saw success immediately after PHRA release, even in the previous combo-infested format where Virtual World took the most representation and top cut spots at LCS 8, eventually winning the entire tournament. Post-banlist, they also took the most top cut spots and then won LCS 9, versus an entirely different playing field full of Zoodiac, Drytron, and Eldlich variants.
Recent combos using Chaofeng, Phantom of the Yang Zing to search either one of the Virtual World tuners (Lulu or Laolao) have opened up some new combo routes that make Foolish Burial Goods a lot more forgiving to play, allowing you to still end on impressive boards despite using Qinglong somewhat suboptimally. On the other hand, Chaofeng's price also spiked quite heavily after LCS 9, so you may not want to play it.
Non-budget players will first and foremost want to add Zeus to the Extra Deck, as it helps greatly with going second and also dealing with threats like Dragoon. Another common inclusion is Triple Tactics Talents, though this card is by no means mandatory in the deck, and has also seen a decline in popularity lately.
A Tier
Strong decks, but limited either by a lack of access to powerful staples or by the natural ceiling of the deck. You could still top a regional with one of these decks on a good day.
Control + backrow deck with incredible recursion and the ability to come back from almost no resources
Altergeist have seen sparse success ever since FLOD, and are a respectable budget contender. They've have had a fairly modest showing online, and saw recent success with a top 8 finish at LCS 9. That deck was a Dogmatika variant piloted by Lars Junginger, playing the recently released Artemis, the Magistus Moon Maiden to make it slightly easier to summon Ecclesia in some hands.
The Dogmatika engine is viable even on a modest budget. It's possible to simply play Dogmatika Punishment as a powerful trap capable of utilizing your extra deck, and even a single copy of Ecclesia (around $20 each right now) goes a long way for improving the power of this package. Of course, the deck is also perfectly playable as pure Altergeist.
Budget players are most hurt by a lack of Pot of Extravagance, Infinite Impermanence, and Evenly Matched. The first three of these cards have reprints, but none are quite cheap enough yet to be easily accessible on a budget.
The extra deck is extremely flexible (as Altergeist are typically played with Extravagance, anyway) and several options are simply tech cards, such as Elder Entity N'tss.
Main deck trap choices are also extremely flexible. Torrential is quite powerful against Virtual World, but this could easily be swapped out for many other cards depending on your budget, available card pool, and locals demographics.
The release of Blazing Vortex in early February also brings along an incredibly powerful staple card in Pot of Prosperity. Altergeist, along with virtually every other deck that enjoys running Pot of Extravagance currently, will appreciate Prosperity as well. Many OCG decks are choosing to play both Extrav + Prosperity in their decklists. Of course, Prosperity is also a Secret Rare, and is virtually guaranteed to be around $100, so this is not applicable on a budget.
Floaty combo/control deck with 4 maindeck Prank-Kids that all float into any other Prank-Kid when used for a Link or Fusion summon
Got a great boost in Phantom Rage with Prank-Kids Meow-Meow-Mu, a Link 1 Prank-Kid monster that makes this deck incredibly consistent and turns any single Prank monster into full combo.
Prank-Kids Place is a little pricey, currently sitting at around $17 per copy in NA. While it contributes to your overall consistency (as it's equivalent to any Prank name), you can definitely get away with cutting copies of Place if your budget is tight.
Notably took 1st place at the Canadian Remote Duel Invitational in mid-January, piloted by Hanko Chow.
This deck appreciates the inclusion of Predaplant Verte Anaconda (currently over $30 apiece in NA) which can dump Thunder Dragon Fusion to help field Battle Butler, your main win condition. It was dropped from the provided list for budget reasons, but it's a great inclusion if you have a copy already. In conjunction with cards like Link Spider, it also improves your ability to play through disruption and through Nibiru.
This deck has many characteristics of a great deck, but suffers from similar problems as Zoodiac in that it struggles to play through disruption on your normal summon, or cards like Ash negating your first Prank-Kid effect. The inclusion of Polymerization in the main deck helps to combat this, but also popular are builds that don't play Poly at all and instead just load the main deck with handtraps and powerful staples like Forbidden Droplet.
Pot of Desires is included in this example main deck to help boost consistency and overall power, but some players opt not to run it.
Link-based midrange deck with a lot of recursion and a special in-archetype technique, where 1 Link Monster is used as the entire Link material to summon another copy of that monster, granting bonus effects
The deck is somewhat halfway between control and combo, establishing respectable boards turn 1 with a fairly compact engine, allowing many handtraps to be played. Their real strength comes in turn 3 and beyond, where their arsenal of free summons from the GY, coupled with their stellar resource recycling, easily overwhelm the opponent.
The majority of the deck is dirt cheap and is mostly able to be built with commons from SOFU+SAST supplementing 3 copies of Structure Deck: Soulburner.
Accesscode Talker is a huge part of this deck's success, able to steal games easily with the help of Update Jammer. Accesscode is not at all affordable on a budget, so the sample list plays Zeroboros instead. Owning one copy of Accesscode is a tremendous improvement to this deck's strength.
Salamangreat has found little competitive success in bigger online tournaments this format, but still regularly performs well in smaller events, remote duel locals, and the like. It's also a fairly safe choice, as it's somewhat unlikely we see further Salamangreat hits on the next banlist.
The provided list plays Rivalry + Strike, a potent option allowing you to sometimes win games even into established boards. Strike is quite solid in the current format, as even the combo decks don't usually end on ways to punish a lot of set backrow.
Parallel eXceed is an optional card, and can be cut in favor of more backrow or handtraps. On one hand, it allows you to more easily link climb when going second, and can easily add a Dweller or Bagooska to your board going first (Dweller is very good right now, as well). On the other hand, players may prefer to run more defensive cards instead of eXceed.
Subterrors are a control deck with a focus on flipping monsters face-down and generating constant advantage with Subterror Guru.
Pure Guru control is the most played variant, and is more or less a stun deck that tries to abuse Guru as much as possible. While most Guru lists online are Numeron and/or Dragoon hybrids, the pure version saw some success earlier this format at the Benelux Remote Duel Extravaganza, finishing top 4. You can watch that deck profile here, and the sample list is generally based off of that list.
While Dragoon isn't budget-friendly, the Numeron engine is very accessible for little cost, and is a viable variant of this deck as well. Numeron cards aim to make Number S0: Utopic ZEXAL going first or simply OTK going second. S0 is an extremely powerful card that can prevent the opponent from playing the game entirely if it resolves. If you are interested in this version, you can check the Subterror list on the previous budget post.
The sample list doesn't have a complete extra deck, mainly because it doesn't play Extravagance and you barely go into the Extra Deck to begin with. Relinquished Anima is a decent option if you can shell out the $7-8 for it, since sometimes you can turn Fiendess into Anima. Apart from that, provided Extra Deck options include anti-Maximus cards for the Dogmatika matchup, and Aussa + Zoodiac Drident in case you face a Zoodiac player. Taking their Zoo monster and then slapping your Drident on top can be potent.
This deck usually plays Extravagance over Desires, but Desires is quite a serviceable replacement. Similarly to Altergeist, this deck also enjoys Pot of Prosperity post-BLVO.
B Tier
Like the above category, but generally weaker, less consistent, and/or impacted harder by a lack of access to a certain card(s).
Dinosaurs are an aggressive deck with consistent access to Evolzar Laggia/Dolkka and Ultimate Conductor Tyranno, a formidable boss monster with incredible OTK power and disruption.
Dinosaur's strength tends to be largely meta-dependent, particularly how well it can counter the existing top decks. During the previous two combo-infested formats with decks like Dragon Link and Adamancipator running around, Dinos had several extremely impressive showing at events, such as TeamSamuraiX1's win at the first NA Remote Duel Invitational, as well as all three first-place players at LCS 7 (a 3v3 event) playing Dino.
In the current format, Dinosaurs are struggling. The Virtual World matchup is difficult, and it's hard for Dinosaur to build to beat all of VW, Drytron, Eldlich variants, and the plethora of rogue decks running around. Additionally, Mystic Mine is not very potent this format as both Virtual World and Eldlich have in-engine outs to the card, which is another blow to the Dinosaur strategy. Finally, the popularity of handtraps like Skull Meister and Artifact Lancea in the side or even the main deck are also reasons this deck has declined.
The provided variant still plays Mine, as it has utility breaking boards. Deckout is a much less reliable strategy against VW and Eldlich, but you can still stall for some turns until you can make a push for game. The addition of Cosmic Cyclone is also an attempt at neutering cards like Chuche and Conquistador.
If you wanted to build this deck without Mines, you would have to find replacements for quite a few cards (and frankly, Dinosaur does not have very many good ones). Most power staples are not budget, such as Lightning Storm, Talents, Droplet, etc. This deck also really appreciates Pot of Extravagance, which still sits barely out of budget range at around $25 each in NA.
Budget Dino must also deal with the lack of Animadorned Archosaur, an extremely powerful addition to the deck that opens up many new combos. However, sitting at around $60 per copy, the card is inaccessible on a budget.
The provided list plays the Simorgh combo, bringing out the WIND barrier statue on turn 1 to steal games. Though a full extra deck is provided, very few cards are actually needed, as the deck typically plays Extravagance anyway.
Dragon Link is a Link-centric combo deck that was a dominant force in the meta for about half a year, but lost a lot of resilience and power with the recent bans to Linkross and Dragon Buster Destruction Sword.
The provided budget version of this deck actually has a ton of extra deck flexibility due to not needing to play Synchro/Link cards related to the Halq/Kross package, meaning that you can play Knightmares, anti-Dogmatika cards, etc. This also means that the budget version doesn't actually care about the Linkross ban at all.
This deck has seen a great deal of variation online, playing a variety of different engines and tech cards. A few of these include Vylon Cube + Smoke Grenade, the Rose Dragons, several different Dragonmaid cards, and even an FTK variant involving Earthbound Immortal Aslla piscu. However, few of these are viable for budget players, especially if you do not own a copy of Halqifibrax.
An interesting option the deck has is to use Union Carrier to equip handtraps such as Artifact Lancea. On the opponent's turn, Hieratic Seal can be used to return the handtrap to your hand, making it live immediately. This is something you may want to consider in the main deck if you frequently have to deal with decks like Virtual World and Dinosaur. Another option is to equip Ally of Justice Cycle Reader to Carrier (they're both machines) and then bounce it to hand, as a weapon against Drytron. Carrier isn't in the example list, but this is a really interesting option to consider.
With Linkross out of the picture, playing Fibrax alone is an option if you either already own a copy or can afford the $20 needed to obtain one. You may have to retool your combos to incorporate Fiber, but the card can definitely add flexibility and resilience to your deck if you use it well.
Backrow-heavy control deck that summons its Traps to the field as monsters and pressures the opponent with Toadally Awesome
After being absent from the budget post for about a year, Paleo makes its triumphant return as its boss monster, Toad, returns to 3. Toad's reprint in Maximum Gold also brought this card down from $20 each to just a few bucks, making the entire deck extremely cheap.
As a control deck, Paleo suffers from more weaknesses compared to Eldlich, Altergeist, and Subterror. Notably, the engine tends to bleed advantage unless you've managed to maintain access to Swap Frog, and you can be quickly outpaced by stronger decks. However, in games where you can establish a Toad early, or where you can maintain control with your backrow, you can do quite well.
Paleo saw a surprising amount of success in various remote duel events this format, though some of that success is likely due to the format being unexplored and some sort of "new toy syndrome" as Toad recently went from 2 to 3.
Paleo struggles to out Dragoon, especially without access to Ice Dragon's Prison, a $40 card. An interesting option catching on in the meta lately is the use of Mirror Force cards, particularly Quaking and Storming, as they both pressure Dragoon. Still, the card puts quite a lot of pressure on this deck.
Speaking of Dragoon, some Paleo players opt to play that package in this deck as well. Swap Frog is a one card Dragoon as you can simply dump Ronin, turn Swap into Almiraj, and then revive Ronin to make Verte from there.
Fiend Griefing is presented as an interesting option which is very decent in the current meta, particularly vs Drytron. Combining it with Absolute King Back Jack is a classic combo that Paleo played a long time ago in 2017, during early Zoo formats.
Price: $100+, can be closer to $50 with fewer copies of Schism Imgur | DuelingBook
Classic Fusion-based archetype from 2014, debuting in Duelist Alliance. Somewhat of a midrange combo deck that can slow the game down with El Shaddoll Winda or be very aggressive with El Shaddoll Construct
Winda is a troublesome floodgate that many decks struggle to out, especially combo decks such as Drytron. Shaddoll cards are currently played in several Dogmatika variants due to the sheer power of Winda and the utility of Shaddoll Schism.
The current meta is favorable for Shaddoll not only due to Winda being effective vs Drytron, but also due to Ariel being very strong against a large chunk of the format, including Eldlich variants. Her ability to banish 3 cards from the GY is so strong that some decks are splashing in Sinister Shadow Games + Ariel just for that option, which we saw played in some of the 60-card Eldlich decks at LCS 9.
The growing popularity of Shaddoll cards has also caused Shaddoll Schism to go up in price substantially. Currently, it's around $17, but it may continue to rise.
The deck's biggest problem has always been its inability to consistently resolve a fusion spell on turn 1. Invoked Shaddoll was a popular hybrid in earlier formats, but with the release of the Magistus archetype in GEIM, Shaddolls got access to Rilliona and Magistus Invocation. This is an improvement since Magistus Invocation can fuse from hand and field whereas the regular Invocation can only fuse from hand when summoning Shaddolls. Additionally, Artemis provides a super convenient way for the deck to turn any Shaddoll into a LIGHT monster, which is important for summoning Construct.
While the full Dogmatika package is very expensive due to Nadir Servant being a $75 card, one option is to play just one copy of Ecclesia (around $20) along with Maximus and a playset of Dogmatika Punishment. Maximus and Punishment have a ton of synergy in the Shaddoll deck in conjunction with Apkallone's GY effect, and this combination is deadly even on a budget.
Other normal summons such as Mathematician and even Gale Dogra are potent on this deck, and can be played in addition to Rilliona or as a replacement for her. Yet another option is to run 1 copy of the now-cheap Eldlich the Golden Lord as a LIGHT monster for Shaddoll Fusion that can easily revive itself.
Another popular variant is a very trap-heavy list, sometimes cutting the Magistus cards entirely. PAK and SirEmanon's YouTube channels both have their own takes on this, if you're interested.
Floaty destruction-based archetype that generates advantage when its cards are destroyed, enabling its gimmick of using your opponent's monsters to Link Summon.
Can be built to go first or to go second quite effectively. Since going second is very difficult this format, the provided list aims to go first, playing a bunch of trap cards.
Fairly modest online performance, doing alright at smaller events and more recently finishing top 8 at the second YuGiJoe online series as well as occasional Luxury events. After the December banlist, Unchained has rapidly gained popularity in online remote duel events, and is one of the more prominent rogue decks this format. This success could be because the format is generally slower compared to previous ones, and many destruction-based cards such as Torrential Tribute are very popular currently, which this deck enjoys.
Mega-Tin reprints of Abomination's Prison as well as their Link 2 have helped make this deck a great deal more affordable. I:P Masquerena being more affordable is also a nice boost, though it's by no means essential in this deck.
This deck's best weapon is its opponents being unprepared for it. Playing improperly into backrow or Unchained floats can very quickly be fatal. It also matches up decently into some backrow decks as well as Dogmatika variants, which rely on destruction-based removal from Dogmatika Punishment and Elder Entity N'tss.
C Tier
Decks in this category have the capability to be just as good as the ones above at times, but often tend to suffer from multiple problems including consistency and power.
Versatile control-based Graveyard toolbox deck that has been swinging in and out of meta relevance since its release way back in 2014.
Gradually got more and more cards back from the banlist, with Cir and Graff being unlimited on the December 2020 list. The deck is now more or less "full power" with the exception of Beatrice, who is still limited.
The deck aims to establish Beatrice on turn 1 backed up with trap cards. The BA cards as well as Beatrice are extremely floaty, so this deck can put up quite a fight in grind games. Fiend Griefing is a solid card in the current meta, and is excellent in the Burning Abyss deck as you can send Farfa for further disruption, Graff/Scarm for followup, or Back Jack for more traps.
This deck was frequently mixed with Phantom Knight cards back in 2016 (often called PK Fire). Nowadays, Phantom Knight decks are typically either built pure or with an extremely compact BA engine. While it's possible to play a more dedicated hybrid build, the release of PK Torn Scales combined with most key BA cards being unlimited means that it's just better to focus on one or the other.
Many other options are playable - Desires for draw power, playing more traps, more handtraps, etc. Consider Needle Ceiling over Torrential as it can be harder to pull off, but combos better with Trap Trick. Players with access to Ice Dragon's Prison should play it, and adventurous duelists can even opt to play Fire Lake of the Burning Abyss.
As a deck easily capable of churning out Rank 3 Xyzs, you also have easy access to Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS Sky Thunder, one of the most powerful extra deck cards in the format. If this is an accessible option, it should be played.
Spell-heavy control deck that usually maintains only one monster on the field at a time, in the extra monster zone.
Formerly an extremely dominant control deck, modern-day Striker no longer accrues infinite resources through resolving Engage multiple times, but instead is easily able to kill you with an Accesscode Talker push after whittling down your LP and resources for a turn or two. The standard combo involves laddering from Halqifibrax -> Selene -> Accesscode and then dismantling your opponent's board before swinging for game.
You may have noticed a problem: if you're on a budget, you can't use Accesscode. This is a pretty big blow to the deck's overall strength. Some players opt for alternatives such as the Utopia Double package, which Zoé Weber played in the second EU Remote Duel Invitational last format. Another option is to simply not run it at all, and close games the old-fashioned way.
In previous formats, this deck was oftentimes played like an anti-meta going second deck, packing tons of removal cards and usually 3 copies of Mystic Mine in the main deck. In the current format, this strategy is a lot more difficult due to several factors - it's very hard to go second this format in general, and Mine is a lot less effective vs the top decks right now.
Instead, the sample list plays a going-first strategy with powerful trap cards like There Can Be Only One and Solemn Strike. It's possible to build this deck to go second, but you'd probably want to play board breakers instead of trap cards, and potentially also maindeck PSY-Framegear Gamma.
Yet another way to play this deck involves (surprise) Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon and multiple copies of Red-Eyes Fusion. Instead of using cards like Widow Anchor and Afterburners to muscle through disruption and stick a Mystic Mine on the field, you use them to get to your Dragoon and either win the game immediately or put yourself in a position where your opponent can't play through the Dragoon disrupt.
Roze is the most expensive card in this list. If your budget is tight, you can definitely cut her down to 1.
Xyz-focused deck with a gimmick allowing you to use any one Zoodiac as the entire Xyz material requirement for another Zoodiac. This lets you stack Zoo Xyz monsters on top of each other, making use of their effects.
Plays a compact engine combined with around 20 slots dedicated to handtraps, traps, and draw power. This deck is also commonly played as a hybrid deck, oftentimes with Eldlich and sometimes with Dogmatika cards. Both of these options are quite expensive, so they are not shown.
The deck's strength in competitive play comes almost entirely from Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS Sky Thunder, an extremely powerful Xyz monster that Zoodiac can effortlessly make due to Zoodiac Boarbow. Zoo is also easily able to summon Zeus with many materials, allowing it to repeatedly nuke the board.
Budget Zoo without Zeus is extremely weak by comparison. Relying solely on Drident + handtraps is not a reliable win condition, so cards like Parallel eXceed and Pot of Avarice are included in the sample list to give this deck a boost. While Megaclops is a troublesome boss monster in some matchups, the big three decks (Drytron, Virtual World, and Eldlich) generally don't have much trouble dealing with it.
Even with Zeus, the deck has been struggling in the current competitive meta. Noteworthy is its performance at LCS 9, where out of a whopping 51 Zoodiac variants that entered the tournament, only 1 survived until top 16.
Up-And-Coming
Decks to watch out for, oftentimes due to recent online success or new support being announced. Some might also be decks that could potentially be on the main body of the post, but need a little more time to prove themselves.
Link-focused deck that plays a variety of Beast, Beast-Warrior, and Winged Beast monsters. The maindeck Tri-Brigades cheat out powerful Link monsters, provided your GY is set up. This deck also trivially access the Simorgh link, which can sometimes seal games on its own through the WIND Barrier Statue.
In the current format, Tri-Brigade has seen fairly sparse success, usually mixed with Zoodiac. However, BLVO gives us Tri-Brigade Kitt, a great boost to this deck and a fantastic combo piece.
Further support in LIOV and beyond is also very promising, making this deck a potentially solid investment for the future.
The Tri-Brigade core is currently quite cheap, but this could change in the future depending on hype and the market.
Control deck with an extremely powerful Link 1 monster, Traptrix Sera, that pumps out constant advantage.
The sample list incorporates a very small Dogmatika engine. Dogmatika Punishment itself is very cheap, and is one of the best generic traps in the game right now. Just 1 copy of Ecclesia (around $20) provides a substantial power boost to this mini-engine, as dumping one copy of Titaniklad with Punishment and grabbing an Ecclesia for next turn is extremely powerful. Another option is to dump El Shaddoll Apkallone, then adding and discarding Ariel in order to trigger her effect and banish 3 cards, which is insane value.
If you can't get Ecclesia, you could simply play just Punishment as a generic trap. Another option is to play pure Traptrix, incorporating more power traps/handtraps, and quite frequently the Utopia Double package as well.
Pirate archetype with ridiculous recursion and a unique tag-out and equip mechanic based on Attributes being used in the game.
The pirates become equips for one of (currently) three Patrollships, extra deck monsters that can all discard Plunder Patroll cards in hand to fuel powerful effects. The ships become stronger when manned (equipped with) a Plunder card, with bonuses such as ignition effects becoming quick effects, or being able to replace the discarded card with a new one from the deck.
Many Plunder lists play Forbidden Droplet, as it has great synergy with the cards. Without Droplet, you could fill the space with several different options. This deck chooses to play the Undine package, but you can also go for cards like Foolish Burial Goods, Salvage, Silent Angler, Tenyi Spirit - Shthana, Toadally Awesome + Bahamut Shark, or just more generic staples.
This deck is getting at least one more support card in LIOV, that being Ravenwing. Many people speculate that they'll also get another Patrollship of a new attribute, which would be a huge buff to the deck.
Honorable Mentions
Megalith, Madolche, Pendulum decks, Cyber Dragon, Orcust, Mermail Atlantean, Magical Musketeers, Crusadia (Guardragon), ABC, D/D, Generaider, and more - Decks that are fairly decent but have been left off of the post to make room for other decks that have seen more recent success or have fewer budget resources online.
Dragonmaid, Eldlich, Infernoid, Invoked variants, HERO, etc - Decks that are pretty good but are sorta in limbo due to some expensive individual cards, such as Chamber Dragonmaid, Cursed Eldland, Invocation, etc.
Cubics, Phantasm, Chain Burn, Evilswarm, Yosenju, Dinomist, and much, much more - Unfortunately, there is not enough room to cover every single decent, super-cheap deck.
I hope to keep this post updated for the foreseeable future. Feel free to leave any comments or suggestions.
[NAFA][Poly] All about NAFA for prospective students! (mainly SOAD stuff)
Hi there! NAFA grad from COVID batch here! I previously wrote tips to not waste time at NAFA. Currently studying in NUS. If you're looking for post O levels/ITE options, look no further! 4 years ago, I attended NAFA's open house after receiving my O level results and back then I was as clueless as the many DMs I've received asking about NAFA ;) . So I'm making this post to clear those doubts! Edit: Added academic calendar to general curriculum and important degree update
Content
Things to note before entering NAFA
What is NAFA and who is it for
Available Courses
When and how to apply
Application Timeline
Financial Aid
During your study
Useful Acronyms
Life at NAFA
Understanding NAFA's SOAD Standard
General curriculum
Electives
Using workshops/Loaning of equipment
Internship
Overseas Immersion/School Exchange Programme
CCA
Post-Diploma
Furthering studies at NAFA
Furthering studies at a local university
Finding Work
Things to note before entering NAFA
[1] What is NAFA and who is it for? NAFA, the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts is Singapore's pioneering art school. It is a private arts institution. It provides diploma studies with a study duration of 3 years just like poly. The special thing about NAFA is that it provides 1-year degree programmes which any student (usually from relevant diploma courses) can pick up. Well, we always say 'art is subjective', it is a freedom of expression. The school is really open to anyone (and that is on the account that you have a portfolio or passed the test). Literally, you can have aunties and uncles as your classmates! You also have people doing art because it's fun but in all seriousness do not sign up if that's what you think. I'd like to think of NAFA as a school that guides you in the beginning and later on they just kind of let everyone be independent learners. Anybody can say that NAFA teaches you the foundation but they do not intend to fully teach you long term or up to a professional level. The school is excellent for people who have existing art skills (you've won SYF, art awards, distinction in art before you were even 17 years old) and wish to be a local artist. It is also great for people who are passionate and have some sort of basic skill or are/have developing skills already (that's me!) however this group should avoid Fine Arts. You can also be passionate and start on a blank slate but be prepared to work doubly hard for the grades. The school is not competitive, it depends on talent to stand out. Do not come if you are doing for the sake of the diploma because the difficulty of NAFA's diploma is no joking matter. Dropping out is common in every course and you do not wish to contribute to that. That is also the whole point of NAFA charging exorbitant school fees so that you don't run away. Many people actually bet their future on NAFA because they couldn't go to poly/uni course of their choice and it ends up being wasted because it's not what they wanted! You may have heard people of saying that the school's standard is trash but the truth is, it's not the school's problem 100% of the time. For students looking to enter NAFA Foundation Programme, it's still new and dodgy. I strongly advise you guys to take O levels and head to Poly instead if you still wish to pursue further education at local universities. I personally find no point in skipping a year and getting L1R4>25 with an O level cert where you might've passed math seems to be a more lucrative choice to use for entering NAFA. The only benefit you're getting from the programme is a debt $$$. Entry requirements: O Level: L1R4 equal or less than 25 points excluding English (can use CCA points) ITE: Full-time Higher Nitec or Nitec Other Local/International Admission Requirements Important note: NAFA diplomas do not equate with polytechnic diplomas. NAFA being the oldest art school does not mean that it is the best place to go instead of Laselle. [2] Available Courses One misconception is that NAFA has double diploma programmes for 3D Design. I'd like to announce that it is false. The school is not capable of teaching 2 types of diploma at a time but rather mash it up. So if you intend to take my course for example Diploma in Design (Landscape and Architecture), it is usually the 1st word that is mainly taught which is 'Landscape'. List of courses: School of Art and Design 3D Design
[3] When and how to apply? Once you received your results is usually the time applications are open. Local and international students have until March to apply. It varies annually. More here ->How to apply Method of Application: Online portfolio submission or physical admission test Neither is better than the other. You method depends on whether you can show what you have within a given deadline. Online Portfolio Submission Minimum 10 images, various mediums allowed and a short writeup of 100 words. 1.Make the portfolio for the course that you want To make them pick you directly for the course, make it look like you are built for the course. 2. Have a variety of work Fine Arts doesn't only consist of drawings, it can also include some sort of sculpture or performance work. Same goes for the other departments. Click here for what each course requires. If you wish to showcase a single type of work because you are unable to show more, it can make your portfolio look okay/bad compared to other people. 3. A passionate statement Only 100 words. Tbh I wrote what I wished to do after my diploma (plans have since changed and it was an odd statement lol). I don't suggest writing about your contribution to the sch because as long as you're a student you're contributing. Make it short and simple. In case anyone is wondering, my application portfolio was mediocre, showing 11 images consisting of sketches/paintings/photos. If you have a god-tier portfolio because you have that artistic talent, there's a good chance to achieve a 1st-year full-coverage scholarship once you step into NAFA. You can submit whenever you want but my estimated deadline was 2 weeks after applying at the open house which waived my application fees ($70 better treat yourself Haidilao). Admission Test (if someone has taken the test feel free to provide more info) The test dates are staggered once per month from January-March. Held in groups. Consists of a drawing test and write-up. I only know that the drawing test isn't difficult. People who took the test do not intend to submit a portfolio as it's quick and efficient. Nothing much to add on. Important note: If you are writing a 2nd choice as a safety net please be cautious. I do not recommend as you may get the 2nd choice instead if the slots for your 1st choice becomes full. They will just shift you to the 2nd choice and that's where the 'appeal' part comes. Choose to submit a portfolio if you can commit to the deadline, it usually gives you an upper hand over admission test applicants because you're showcasing more. [4] Application Timeline (I only know O levels if anyone can kindly tell me I'll update) O levels: January Receive results > submit JAE > apply for NAFA February Wait for JAE AND NAFA results > receive JAE results 1st > receive NAFA results 2nd You’ll receive NAFA results before poly starts unless you apply late. I applied during Jan on the day of the open house and got my results mid-end Feb. March is the last month to receive results. [5] Financial Aid NAFA Financial Aid Now, we all know private school isn't cheap and many passionate young souls I've met depend heavily on financial aid like I do. If you're a Singaporean with a tight family income, the bursary is attainable for you. It covers half of the annual school fee. Can only be taken once for each year of study. If you are able to claim the bursary for all your years, you’d pay a total of $7050. For those who are hoping to start at NAFA but is at a really tight end, you need perfect grades in art and portfolio to be considered a scholarship/merit in your first year. You'll need testimonials and pass the interview. If you ain’t good in art, pass this opportunity however you can work for scholarship/merit during your diploma years. I’d score close to the 4.0 (3.8X) in Year 1 in order to get a scholarship to cover my Year 2 fees. Other options are the 0% interest study loan by DBS. You can make use of your PSEA which you can also use your sibling account to cover your own sch fees. Last option but not really one is the student assistantship scheme should you already be a student of NAFA. The pay is peanuts, I would not recommend but it's nice to have a one-liner in your resume that you did some work for the school :). There are NAFA students with a possibly far worse situation than yours but they are extremely talented and hardworking to end up not paying a single cent. NAFA is really expensive so if you do intend to work to cover the fees, take care of your grades as well. It is not impossible to do so. I chose to not work as I was in a hectic design course and needed to maintain my grade for university. Next, you would need to understand how the system works.
During your study
[1] Useful Acronyms SOAD: School of Art and Design (Department) SOAMDT: School of Arts Management, Dance and Theatre SOM: School of Music D&M: Design and Media FA: Fine Arts 3DD: 3D Design FS: Fashion Studies FYP: Final Year Project (used in almost every SOAD course lol) OIP: Overseas Immersion Programme [2] Life at NAFA So you wish to know how life is like at NAFA? First thing, don't expect the same amount of glitz and glamour that exists in polys. It's much quieter where you won't even hear a mouse die. Because entry to the school is quite easy, the population regularly consists of graduated ITE students (can’t make it to poly/NAFA is the last golden ticket) alongside many international students. O level cert holders are like a small 10% or less. So if you’re young, prepare to take care of the older lot and expect to carry lazy people. You have to be very committed to the course and can’t skip class. More than 3 times and they start deducting marks. The workload is heavy and even if it comes in small numbers, it is intense. The number of student to lecturer ratio is not a big difference but later on, consultation times may not suffice. Facilities are sufficient unless you’re in a design course. There are CCAs in the sch but not all courses got time for it. Staying in school late is a common culture. Fine Arts students after class just camp in their respective studios and design students would camp till closing 11 pm at the computer lab waiting for renders to finish. Every student will experience staying late and you can say its #lifeatnafa. The culture here is not as toxic and dramatic as poly but more towards weird because we’re creative artsy-fartsy people. It’s easy to get along with course mates but there’s a chance for things to get somehow cranky along the way. Could be you or your classmate. Everyone is pretty open and wild. There’s a lack of competitiveness which is both good and bad. There won't be a course that goes without presentations. That's the point of producing works ain't it, to show it off to the audience. Group work to individual work ratio is about 3:6 so if you worry about bad groupmates, don't worry I've faced them too and it can't be helped ;). Carrying other people during group work is also common. NAFA does stand for lazy people what to do. Your complaints hold no power. (Arguably, many students want the school to make entry to the courses more difficult as there seem to be too many bums to handle) If you're mentally depressed or anything the school does try to help but no legit support system other than the ECG counsellor (which I find it practically useless). Now, the school deals with this quite often so they don't give a damn about your life. Ownself take care ownself is the usual term. School events anyone can participate: Open House (1-day Sentosa fun time with other Open House ambassador) Orientation (has a 1-night camp! Recommend) NAFA Fun Day Overseas Immersion Programme (1-3 weeks long, Asian countries. Recommend but need $) Student Assistantship Programme (1 year-long contract. Peanut pay) The list of programmes here may not seem much but you can add it in your portfolio (except Fun Day). There may be volunteer work available within some courses itself. Do try to be active And that's about it. Nothing special just expensive and less fun. [3] Understanding NAFA's SOAD Standard Take a look at what past graduates have produced within their 3 years as a student. Only you can judge whether the school is great or the right fit for your goals (in being able to attain this particular level of skill for XXX course once you graduate for example). The best standard can be found under the best graduate tab. 2020 The Grad Expectations Graduation Showcase [4] General Curriculum Academic Calendar The 1st semester of your study begins at the start of August and usually ends late November or early December depending on the type of assessment received. The 2nd semester begins in January till May. The span of 1 semester is always around 4 months with a 1-week break in between. We don't really have any sort of term 1/2 thing like poly and is much compressed, so breaks are less. However, you do get compensated with a 3-month vacation between years so that's fair. *Applicable to SOAD only Year 1 1st Semester: Foundation Study (not the same as NAFA Foundation programme for N level) + Basic art and design theory +General Education 2nd Semester: Course Foundation + General Education + Basic course theory (+ Electives) Year 2 1st Semester: 2nd Set of Course Foundation + Intermediate theory + 1st project + Basic report/essay writing (+ Electives) 2nd Semester: Last set of Course Foundation + Another set of projects (+ Electives) Year 3 1st Semester: Internship/School project (wouldn't want to get this) 2nd Semester: Final Year project (practically on your own) + Report/Essay writing + Research and development (+ Electives, not recommended to do during this semester) It’s clearly not much different from poly, slightly worse at certain points. Weeklyschool hours per week will increase each semester e.g year 1 sem 1 is 18hrs a week for classes, next semester you may get an additional 2-4 hrs increase of class time. The longest time I had for class each week was 24hrs, pretty sure the same goes for any SOAD course. Do expect late-night classes. It is inevitable because most lecturers are teaching part-time so do bear with them. Important note: For a lighter schedule, do electives early as that's one of the simplest things to do. The difference in timetable won't affect application to university. [5] Electives 1 common mistake students commit is not reading the student handbook (from studentnet)/contract on the number of credits required for graduation. They end up finishing their electives during Year 3 Semester 2 which is the time one should focus on their FYP. Start doing your electives once you’re in Year 1 Semester 2. Good planning consists of not stuffing your modules until it’s way past 24hrs/week (also known as overloading). You’re required to do cross-disciplinary modules 2-6 credits worth (meaning not related to your course, if you’re from D&M you have to do either FA/3DD/FS) and course-related electives worth 2-6 credits. Days before module registration, plan out the electives you want to do based on your given timetable and then rush to pick on the day of the module registration with no hesitation to secure your placement. You may have to do an elective that is unfamiliar to you. My sample plan: Year 1 sem 1: Can’t choose yet Year 1 sem 2: Photography (Highly recommend, popular as well but must have time and skill + a friend who's free who be your model). 2 credits Year 1 sem 2 special term (aka holiday): OIP to Hangzhou. China Academy of Arts for 3 weeks. Considered cross-disciplinary to FA. 3 weeks long. 4 credits Year 2 sem 1: Intro to Rapid prototyping from 3DD (laser cut/3D print) (didn’t really learn how to use the machine as there are technical officers and I messed up at the end but still passed, great elective for embarrassing yourself if you’re a 3DD student who frequents the workshop ;) ). 2 credits Year 2 sem 2 - onwards: No more electives can focus on FYP Important note: Plan well so you accumulate just nice 120 credits for graduation. No point in exceeding the total credits as you have to pay extra for it. If you miss a few credits for graduation, you will be retained for another semester to finish. Cheat tip: if you go on the OIP to China only, you instantly get cross-disciplinary credits. [6] Using Workshops/Loaning of equipment
The 3D workshop at wing B level 1 operates Mon-Fri 8 am to 6 pm but you need permission from the lecturer or Technical officer to use the machinery.
Laser cutting and 3D printing in the 3D workshop operates from Mon-Fri 10:30-4:30 pm and it is based on a first sign up first serve basis. Booking is always done a week prior to the day of actual usage and maximum of 4 people per day (unless you let others share your slot). Every Friday the slate inside the workshop outside the room is wiped clean for students to book for the week ahead. Even if your name is on the booking board and you don't end up cutting, you will get a temporal ban after multiple attempts. Do ask the Technical officer about the laser cutting template as well and follow accordingly when you create the template so as to not cause a problem of cleaning up your drawing which may overtake another timeslot.
Camera equipment for photography/filming can be loaned from a guy named 'Jack'. Priority goes to courses that require it, followed by the photography elective and so on. Loan lasts for a week and extension can be asked for after loan period.
Photography Studio/Darkroom use needs to have a form signed, given to 'Jack' and then approved. Literally, find this guy for all your photography needs.
Fine Art workshop time depends on the course instructor. People from other courses are free to walk in when its empty but usage not possible.
[7] Internships Usually done in Year 3 Semester 1, this is one of the key semesters every student should complete for it plays a very important role in your portfolio for finding a job post-graduation. The school has a reputable network, however for courses like Fine Art and illustration the intern positions may be limited because Singapore is not very welcoming for such talents. There are top companies who are willing to hire NAFA students on the basis that they have good grades and a juicy portfolio. So if you want the best, you got to be the best. [8] Overseas Immersion/School Exchange Programmes Slots for OIP is limited (especially the ones to China), requires an interview. I think the max for some trips were 35-40 people at most. There are subsidies available and coverage varies. Places NAFA has flown to: *Xiamen (3 weeks) *Hangzhou, China Academy of Arts (3 weeks) *Beijing, Beijing Technology University (3 weeks) Bangkok (1 week?) Korea (might've stopped) Japan (might've stopped) *Special programme during Year 1 Semester 2 vacation only I forgot the cost but I've personally have flown to Hangzhou. Best experience ever despite getting a C. Crazy stuff happened at one of the finest Arts school in China :) Important note: If you miss the chance to fly, fret not, NAFA's degree programme is a collaboration with a foreign university and they will open an exchange programme for 1 month (that is if COVID doesn't persist). Not sure about the cost though. [9] CCA (The price list is not updated as of 2020) List of currently available CCAs:
Short story: Long ago, I actually joined the photography club only to end up leaving before they even started anything because everybody was too busy to meet up and thus disbanded. During my time, Muay Thai is the most popular followed by Yoga. Do check out NAFA OSC account on IG to find out what they do. Looks like they added Korean language class too hmm
Post-Diploma
[1] Furthering Studies at NAFA NAFA Degree courses for Arts Management and Music Update (thanks to the comment below): NAFA is going to change its programmes and collaboration starting from AY2021/2022. The new degree courses are collaborating with UAL (University of Arts, London) and it’s changing from one year course to two-year course which includes 5-7 weeks of going to the colleges in London. All the courses are affected except for Arts Management and Music. Students with A Level certificates, as well as those without relevant diplomas will be allowed to enrol into NAFA’s degree programmes. The stuff I wrote may not apply anymore but I will still leave it here as a reference for NAFA's 1-year degree. The degree website is empty for now. How do you determine if taking NAFA degree is worth it and why should you take or not take the NAFA degree? There’s always a mixed bag of opinions over the degree. Personally, I’m not a fan of it but I won’t be biased and input the pros and cons that can better aid in one’s decision. PROS 1.Existing CGPA from diploma is Low Finding a job with the private diploma cert and low grades can affect your career progression. Make up for the mistakes that were done during the diploma study and try to do well for the degree. 2. High CGPA, expecting a scholarship (or free ride) for the degree course If you easily meet these 3 criteria (1) Singapore's local unis are too expensive for your taste, (2) you might be older than 21 years old and need to work ASAP, (3) "broke" but did quite well during your diploma and has an excellent portfolio to show, taking the degree might not be such a bad option. In some instances, the 1-year degree + years of work experience can allow one to take up a master degree at local uni if the pre-requisites are met. 3. Changing career path (still art-related) It's possible to change paths from design to fine arts. However, for a degree that lasts only for 1 year, it is impossible to acquire a decent knowledge at a degree level compared to the diploma stage in my opinion. Usually, the people who apply for the design degree e.g Spatial Design, have prior knowledge from the related course of study either from NAFA or other polys. 1 year is not enough but never said that it’s impossible and has been done over the years. 4. Increase in starting salary Nobody says this when asked why they want to take the degree but I'm sure they want an increase in starting salary. If you have a fear of starting out with low pay and want to bump it up by sacrificing a short amount of time and money, go for it. CONS 1.Not a legit degree This isn’t a biased answer but an honest one. NAFA's degree is not a professional degree. 1-year won't be enough to acquire a lot of knowledge. There are no internships and full training of Softwares/techniques whatsoever. It's basically aimed at NAFA/poly students who have an existing skillset and internship experience during their diploma studies or international students with similar qualifications. I'm not discouraging anyone who wishes to take the degree because some companies do take in students and if they're lucky, they can work for them after graduation. 2. Not 100% applicable for postgraduate studies in Singapore The local universities may not kindly cater to all NAFA degrees. A number of students after getting a NAFA degree would choose to study overseas to pursue a masters. If getting NAFA's degree is a mean of broadening your studying experience by going overseas, why not? One real-life example that I've heard of works is landscape and architecture diploma + Spatial Design degree + 3 years of work experience at a good company + an excellent portfolio which eventually led this person to enter NUS Masters in Landscape Architecture. Spatial Design has a chance for relevant postgraduate courses although this may not be the same for the other NAFA degrees. 3. Not worth if you are a Singaporean The cost of NAFA's degree is considered affordable for an international student and it was practically built for them. If a Singaporean were to study at local uni for 3/4 years including subsidies + tuition grant for a design degree, it'd still be cheaper than a NAFA degree. Plus an actual degree from the public unis is still considered much valuable. If you stand for better higher educational standards after staying there for 3 years, I say work hard and flee. [2] Furthering studies at a local university It’s not impossible. It was already allowed a million years ago. It just a matter of effort you put during your diploma years. The current standard at NAFA has dwindled where only less than 10 NAFA grads emerge victoriously so don't be surprised knowing that NAFA barely has high flyers, the school doesn't even push for it. Even my juniors don't know my degree existed 1 year ago... 2 things to note:
NAFA diploma is not allowed entry into many courses that are irrelevant from the diploma unless the GPA is high. The usual entry requirements are GPA 3.5-4.0 also dependent on the 10th percentile, juicy portfolio and testimonial (I didn't need it FYI)
Chances are higher for relevant degrees although any degree will definitely have entry requirements to meet. Some degrees require O level pass in elementary/additional math (they say they don't check anymore after 2019 but I don't want to play out my chances). I know of students who were optimistic about their GPA but they did not read the instructions beforehand.
You will be fighting with the best from poly, JC and beyond. Do your best to represent yourself as a student from NAFA and you'll find a way to stand out from the crowd. A warning note to future/existing international NAFA students: I know most of y’all only started living in Singapore just before the beginning of the diploma. I don’t know whether your international qualifications can equate with O levels so consider your future plans in Singapore carefully. My dear international classmates weren’t called up for uni interview (GPA already wasn’t helping, no offence) and the super stringent admission criteria crippled their hopes. Many have remained in NAFA to do the 1-year degree or have returned to their home country. I cannot answer for employment rates. If neither one is the option you want to end up with, do take note. [3] Finding Work COVID really struck a lot of people hard. I can count the number of my coursemate who is employed with my 10 fingers or less. The full-time employment rate is terrible, believe it or not. The school hides it like the fine print in the student contract. Here in the Graduate Employment Survey, you can see the ending choices of NAFA graduates. I really can't tell the success rate of one finding a job even based on IG stories itself. I see quite a number of freelancer or people doing other things. Who will remain in the same industry? The top 10% in the cohort but even the best have struggled or are still struggling to find a job. NAFA students are not only fighting among themselves, there are poly students with similarly named courses out there too with a proper educational lineup that a NAFA diploma can't compare with. A portfolio is usually the passport for finding work and the past 3 years of study is meant to fill it up. Don't waste time being a stubborn student especially when you will be spending a lot of money to study. The best way to make yourself look hire-able is to definitely have good grades and a portfolio. Can't emphasise anything else other than that to convince the company to hire you.
Wrapping it up
NAFA is one of the schools that provides a unique and alternative route away from the usual poly lifestyle. I had some crazy times in there be it social life or workload. It isn't a bad school (I quote 5/10) but if you can work for what you love, you'll do just fine. The Open House is open and I suggest for those interested to take a look. A whole bunch of admission guides are up for talks. NAFA Virtual Open House If you guys have any questions, comment down below so others can read or if you're shy, drop me a DM but I may be busy to reply. Thanks for dropping by!
Review of installing the Mr. Shades PID on my Gaggia Classic 2019
I just installed a Mr. Shades PID on my new Gaggia Classic and got it running. I’ve seen a couple of reviews like this recently, but when I was trying to figure out what machine (and then what PID) to get, I looked around for reviews and wished there were more. So, I thought I’d post my own. A similar (slightly more optimistic) post is here: https://www.reddit.com/gaggiaclassic/comments/l8ms5b/my_experience_fitting_mr_shades_pid_to_gaggia/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf TL;DR: Approach this with the right mindset, and you will be happy. Expect a real DIY experience if you get this; do not expect it to be easy. Plan to spend 8–10 hours on it. If you are very efficient, exceptional at reading manuals, and don’t make mistakes, it can be much faster, but unless you have done this before, it will almost certainly longer than the 2–3 hours advertised (probably regardless of which PID kit you buy and from which company). Pros:
Major kudos to Mr. Shades for making & supporting these kits. I recognize that it would be a pretty tough challenge! Gaggia changes their designs in little ways on a regular basis (e.g. lid structure, wiring colors, etc) and seems to have some inconsistencies in build (e.g. which wire goes in which slot for switches), and this throws off the instructions. It would be impossible for Mr. Shades to stay ahead of that or fully account for it in static instructions, but it seems like he figures things out and provides pretty reliable support for folks to get the kit working.
The support email was very responsive and helpful. I got help on two main things: 1) I wasn’t getting power to the PID device, and 2) the Gaggia lid wasn’t closing after install, due to a change in the lid design between 2018 & 2019 models. They got back to me quickly with a solution to both problems within a few hours, and then explained another couple of questions I had about power connections.
It seems to now be working, and it is a relatively good-looking package. I worried a lot (probably too much) about whether to get this PID or the smaller-enclosure version from Auber. Obviously, I went with this one, but it really doesn’t have wasted space, so it feels like a good sizing.
I feel like I know my Gaggia better now, and it feels more like a tool I really own and can maintain myself, rather than just another piece of technology that is beyond my ability to understand or repair.
Cons:
Despite my feeling of understanding for the Gaggia, my understanding of the PID is still pretty lacking, and that feels a piece of tech that is beyond my ability to fix. If it breaks, I will probably have to replace it or reverse the install completely.
This was a genuinely frustrating experience. Most of the connections in the Gaggia require both finesse and strength to undo. There is very little space to move for many of them, and things are really stuck in place. A long flathead screwdriver is definitely essential for prying apart the power connections. A good magnetic screwdriver is helpful, though I wish I had a stronger magnet in mine.
Honestly, I feel kind of cheated by the marketing of the installation process. The sales page says, “Installation usually takes most people around 2-3hrs and requires only basic tools.” I understand that this metric probably has to be stated in order to compete with Auber, who makes a similar claim but probably doesn’t provide much of a different installation experience. I tracked my time, and it took me a bit over 9 hours. The Reddit post linked about says they had no problems, but it took about 5 hours, and they hadn’t yet gotten the lid to close correctly (dealing with this issue took me over an hour). A YouTube channel I enjoy says that it took them 10 hours. I suspect that to finish this in 2–3 hours, you would have to be very familiar with the process already. Like ... now could probably do it in 3 hours, if I had to.
The support is good, but if the manual were better ... the support maybe wouldn’t be as necessary? I know that making the perfect manual is easier wished for than done, though.
The PID takes a bit of configuration, post-installation. It’s not that bad (much more pleasant than the physical installation process, and better documented), but it adds probably 30–45 minutes of extra time to the overall process, and I didn’t realize that it wouldn’t come pre-configured.
As the install took a lot longer than expected, I ended up wondering whether I should have just gotten a different machine, with a PID pre-installed. A reason I got a Gaggia is that I like the design, and with a PID, it seems to be a machine that is as good as things that cost around $1000. But, the machine is $450, and then (with shipping to the US) this PID is about $175. Not counting the accessories (because those are needed for any machine), that’s a minimum of $625. But then, I spent 9–10 hours installing the PID, and now I’m left uncertain whether it will really operate as expected for the long term, or whether it could somehow malfunction and cause bigger problems. It would certainly be possible to mess up this install partway through – and then be stuck either reversing things or buying a replacement kit to try again. I’m currently very uncertain whether I made the right decision (going with the Gaggia + PID), and I don’t think I’d make the same choice if I were to start from scratch.
More on install time I am fairly competent at technical things: In the past, I’ve done a bit of soldering for keyboard projects, I’ve done some basic woodworking, I’ve replaced an iPhone battery, and I am intermediate at programming in Python & coding websites with HTML, CSS, and JS frameworks. I’m nothing special, but I can generally follow instructions and figure things out. Then again, a lot of what I do allows me to experiment and Google any problems that arise. This install is a bit of a different beast. It’s hard to say how much of the difficulty would really be possible to solve in the manual versus how much is innately part of assembling a DIY electronics project. I did skim the contents first to get a sense of how the process was structured, but it is pretty hard for me to fully understand technical things without working along with the process. So, it was partly on me, but I had multiple times where a critical detail was under-emphasized or pointed out too late in the manual. There are two main reasons the install takes a long time:
As stated above, Mr. Shades does not have a simple task in providing the kit + manual + support, with changes and variability from Gaggia. Added to this, the Gaggia itself just has lots of fiddly bits that are difficult to work with.
The manual is out of date or out of sync in small but meaningful ways. It is quite good in many ways, but this is a complex process, and the instructions leave parts out and gloss over others. Probably over half the time this install took was due to things that I nearly completed, only to have to reverse and redo. Lots of things need to be done in a certain order, and it’s not always clear what that is until you’ve gone (much) too far. For most of them, proper photos and better ordering of instructions probably would have prevented the mistakes. It sounds like they are updating it, but I’m still kind of salty that they sold me a device with an outdated manual.
Tips
Don’t attempt this without the proper tools. It would be very, very difficult to do with something like a bike multitool (I tried this before getting out a full assortment of tools). For me, a flathead screwdriver was essential, even though it’s labeled as optional.
Approach this as the serious project it is. Have patience and take this on as a doable but relatively involved DIY electronics project. Also, set up at a good workspace – try to have good daytime lighting, no distractions, and hopefully good sitting/standing options. I spent a silly amount of time on this at a dining table before moving to my proper desk. Like anything else, a better workspace makes the work better.
A very helpful thing for me was having a couple of rolls of tape: some strong blue painter’s tape to hold things in place while working on them, and some light masking/washi tape to write labels on when having to undo and redo things.
Specific tips that will save you a lot of time:
The PID enclosure splits apart, which is helpful so it can be assembled over top of the PID even after things are connected. But, the front and back plate were much simpler to accurately screw on after taping the enclosure together on the sides, in alignment. Use tape!
Make sure to put the cables through not only the grommet but also the enclosure backplate before attaching them to the PID. Otherwise, you will have to undo the connections and string it through. Also make sure you have it facing the right way (with screw countersinks facing outward), or again, you will have to disconnect things and string them through again.
There is a yellow & green grounding cable, with a fork on one end and loop on the other. Make sure the fork goes inside the Gaggia, and the loop is left to use in the PID enclosure. This is not made clear in the manual, and seems to not matter almost until the very end of the installation process – but then it does.
Probably, try to read fully through each section before working through them. Read it through and visually plan it out before actually disconnecting or connecting things. I am not very good at this, but I would have tried harder had I realized quite how essential it was. Moving slowly at this process probably saves time in the end.
It is very tempting to put together the casing before you have done all the steps, but really, don’t do this until you are quite sure that things are working. Stick very closely to the ordering of the manual’s sections, or you will have to backtrack.
If you are just about to install the device, realize that the manual (as of February 2021) recommends a position for the Brew SSR that will not allow the Gaggia lid to close. If the manual you read says to place the SSR above the power plug, it is outdated – email support for a corrected set of photos.
When you are installing the thermostat in the boiler, just unscrew and remove the entire steam wand. You don’t even have to unclip this – it will literally come all the way out through the top, and it’s easy to put back in. It will help give you a very necessary extra bit of room to work.
Initial PID experience & current thoughts Even after the “auto-tune” process and with a warmed-up machine, the display does seem to quickly jump around within maybe +0.5 to +3°C of the target. This probably isn’t such a bad thing, and I suspect it’s just very accurately reporting the temperatures as it is reading & responding to them. As an initial experience, though, it isn’t as smooth or reassuring as I had expected it to be. But, I’m guessing that, once I get used to it, I will appreciate the deep configurability and clarity of the device. It feels like kind of an “expert” tool, rather than a dumbed-down kitchen appliance. That is pretty cool, provided it works in the long run. Now that I have actually installed this, I am pretty excited about making espresso with it, and I hope that it saves me time on temperature surfing while getting more consistent results. I am quite excited to have more machine capabilities to experiment with! The first 5 or so shots I’ve pulled with it have been consistent and really nice. Would I recommend it to most people? Not really. Will I be glad I did it, a month or a year from now? I’m pretty optimistic about that. Fingers crossed!
Month 15 - Affiliate/Info Site (Case Study Entry 4) "I f*cking hate Google" to "I f*cking love Google"
Waaaassuupp my just start beauties? Hope everyone is good. I am currently sitting in awe watching the stock price of GameStop & have a little bit of my own money in it. It's literally like gambling. I used to love gambling so I'm having a whirlwind of a time rn haha! (dw it's money i can lose) Anyway!!! On with the case study. As always here are last months ones: Month 12 Month 13 Month 14 Anyways here are the stats:
Mth
Articles (total)
Pageviews
No of Words
Affiliate Income (£)
Ezoic Income ($)
Avg EPMV ($)
Total (£)
Oct 2020
45
8475
99,603
316.68
0
0
307.29
Nov 2020
54
40,724
124,284
3865
145.80
9.99
4018.17
Dec 2020
62
20,968
145,215
799.35
112.93
18.54
911.11
Jan 2021
70
21, 743
152,633
746.34
106.79
16.66
824.22
For those of you who dont wanna read, I just started a YouTube where I'll be doing these on camera plus sharing my keyword research methods + anything you want to know.
The Google Update Did Rip My Anus (I Thought I'd Escaped)
So like last month we've seen growth!! And that may seem just a little ecstatic, but it's because I've had to eat my own words after saying "The Google Update Didn't Rip My Anus (Hooray!)" in the last update. This time around, Google did infact rip my anus. But it recovered in about 2 weeks to even better positions... I know these are all horrible innuendos and I'm not sorry. Every part of me wanted to scramble to 'fix' it as best I could those 2 weeks, but I left it alone, stuck to the plan & thanked the affiliate marketing gods it was saved from the burning pits of below top 10 rankings.
My Niche is Profitable But Not Incredibly Profitable
I've learned that the niche I'm currently in is actually pretty hard to earn from. The avg RPM on YouTube is $6/1000 & the affiliate sales aren't as frequent or high in value as say the finance niche or others. It seems I've put an incredible amount of work into this, but if I'd have chosen a different niche that work would have = more value by now (in my opinion). So I've basically decided to pretty much outsource all of the content and start a affiliate blogging or finance niche page. Stuff about how you can make money from blogging, stock trading etc. Maybe I'll do this as a YouTube as well, but I'm unsure which I'd rather as of yet. I quite like just having a site and not having to really show my face. I could outsource the content and put it under my name & no one would know, whereas with YouTube, it always has to be me.
What Changed This Month?
Ezoic Money Machine Didn't Brrr: I've heard this is pretty normal for most blogs around Jan, but yeah Ezoic dropped heavily for me. Alongside the Google update, it really fucked my chances of getting to my goal of 1000 beautiful Queenie pounds (GBP). Oh well, next month I think I'm definitely gonna see it get to 1k or at least high 900. I'm getting about 700-850 visits a day now which is wicked. Google update, then #1: Google was a little cunt & threw all his toys out the pram & then tidied them all back up in different positions. I am grateful for this because, although I didn't see it at the time, I've come back stronger than ever before. I've taken lots of #1 slots for affiliate terms so alllllll good. It's been interesting to see the shift in amount of money made in each affiliate completely turn on its head. The one I made 90% of my income from most months is now projected to be among the lowest. Christmas Period Traffic Drop: So finally the Christmas period traffic has fully gone & I've seen a hit in affiliate earnings on the one I pretty much earned 90% of my income from last month. It has gone back to its regular 1-5 sales/day, but the commissions I'm getting for these sales are much lower. I am ranking number 1 for quite a few positions containing links to this affiliate, but I guess I'm either not converting for some reason - or the buyer intent isn't really there. It's a listicle and showcases the best 50 x products - maybe there's too much choice for the buyer? I'm not sure how I'd continue to hold top slot if I cut it down though. I would really appreciate some thoughts here. I'm trying to rank for a better buyer intent keyword rn with 1k search vol. There's not a lot of competition so I think I can easily take the 3rd slot. Work Focus Shift: This month has looked a little different for me work wise. I've now said to myself that I have enough to start outsourcing most of the content on the site, & to step away from it a little bit to start building out other things and diversifying. If there's one thing I know now - it's that Google's scythe is remorseless. And it can make you wanna be a Chad and punch multiple holes in your dry wall at the flick of a switch. This game is a rollercoaster both rankings and emotion wise lmao. To combat this I've been focussing a lot on YouTube, & other social media like instagram. I've put out 14 videos this month. And fuck me does video editing suck so much more than writing?! On Instagram, I've been posting up to 9 times a day, using reels a lot and also posting around 2-3 times on TikTok. I've grown a lot on IG doing this. I went from 100 - 300 followers this month & only really started 2 weeks ago. I also had a video go viral on TikTok which was good. Another thing I've done is set up an Etsy shop for one of my IG accounts. I'm happy to share this niche with you bc it's more of an experiment than anything. It's dogs; Labradors to be specific & I'm selling custom shirts to the Instagram followers. I have around 1.15k on there so far & have been growing fairly rapidly. People love dogs more than people & it's quite crazy the amount of engagement it gets. I can see it being pretty profitable in the future. New Investment Plans: The money I make from the site will all go back into content & feeding me. I have plans to get my writer on YouTube with me at the early stages of this channel. I feel like if I involve him at a later date, people will feel cheated. But, if it's 2 people from the start, it will have always been that way. Maybe that's just me thinking too much, but I sure as hell stopped watching =3 when Ray William Johnson was no longer the main dude. It was shit before, but fuck me did it get shit after he left. I've also been trading on a Forex demo account for 2 years now & have gotten pretty good at it. I feel like this is another way to expand my income from earning online. I'm going to get into crypto & forex with some money I won in a competition. I have around $300 to play with, so I'm hoping to get it to $1k investing in DOGE or XRP, & then move that 1k into the more stable currency markets. Anyway me old fruit... Hope you enjoyed reading; thanks for reading; and see you in the next episode-sode-sode-sode *dr dre plays* Bye!
Jesus Take The Wheel - Hitting Legend with Burgle Rogue
Hey all! I’m Kay and I’ve been a burgle rogue aficionado since Witchwood. Being home for the holidays this month has finally given me the time to push to legend for the first time ever with this Wild homebrew Cutlass deck. I think this deck has the chops to hit high legend if a better player with more time was able to pilot it. I had a lot of fun playing this list and got to learn it fairly well. I would love to see more Burgle Rogues in Hearthstone, and am writing this guide to hopefully inspire some of you to give it a whirl. While I play on mobile without a deck tracker, here is my proof of Legend. The Deck: Margaret Thatcher Class: Rogue Format: Wild # 2x (1) Deadly Poison # 2x (1) Dragon's Hoard # 1x (1) Patches the Pirate # 2x (1) Secret Passage # 2x (1) Swashburglar # 2x (1) Wand Thief # 2x (2) Cavern Shinyfinder # 2x (2) Clever Disguise # 2x (2) Sap # 1x (2) Swindle # 2x (2) Underbelly Fence # 1x (3) Beneath the Grounds # 2x (4) Spectral Cutlass # 2x (4) Tinker's Sharpsword Oil # 2x (4) Vendetta # 2x (5) Cutting Class # 1x (6) Vanish AAEBAYO6AgTEAZsUkbwC590DDcsDzQOvEJK2AuXRAurzAvuaA/6aA62oA7euA6rLA6TRA/fUAwA= Why is a burgle rogue deck called Margret Thatcher? My first Burgle Rogue deck ever was named “I will steal your shit.” Then I listened to Robin WIlliams last standup album, and it included this bit about the Falklands War. “I will sink your shit” sounded similar to “I will steal your shit” and thus Margret Thatcher has been the name of all of my burgle rogue decks since. It makes sense in my head, I promise. Why Cutlass Rogue? I love playing Burgle Rogue and finally decided to put my time towards making a truly viable list and hitting legend. Playing Burgle Rogue gives you three paths. You can play it with the quest, which simply delays your demise against aggro decks (Rogue lacks both taunts and ways to heal) and doesn’t put combo or control decks on any kind of timer. If there were a hardcore midrange meta for some reason, the quest might be worth a look. But until then it’s on the back burner. Another tack you can take is a deck I affectionately refer to as Cheese Rogue. Put your normal burgles, Academic Espionage, Tess Graymane, both Yoggs, and anything that helps you not die, and you have a deck that will either pull out glorious wins out of nothing or draw three Totemic Mights in a row and sputter. The other problem is that when you run an Tesspionage based list, you’re totally punting aggro matchups. While a phenomenally fun deck, Tesspionage Rogue suffers from the simple problem of being very bad (it’s hovering around a 30% winrate on HSReplay) which makes it a poor choice to actually win games with. Cutlass Rogue instead plays more like Kingsbane Rogue on mushrooms. You’re still trying to build an enormous weapon with lifesteal that lets you outheal aggro and chip decks as well as put slow decks on a clock with heavy damage every turn, but instead of doing it with normal cards, we do it by thieving random things from other classes. How We Win: By getting a Spectral Cutlass with 6+ Attack and using burgled cards to disrupt our opponent’s gameplan and pump up our weapon’s durability. Occasionally, we also pull off wins with hilariously bullshit burgle synergies. Our ideal line of early play is something along the lines of: T1: Swashburglar (and Patches) T2: Cavern Shinyfinder or Underbelly Fence T3: Shinyfinder or Fence with a 1 mana burgle card, or just coin Cutlass T4: Cutlass or a barrage of burgling T5: Deadly Poison and Tinker’s Sharpsword Oil T6+: Imagination and RNG! Strengths and Weaknesses of This List: This deck outputs ridiculous amounts of healing. Once your weapon is at ten plus attack, you will eventually escape the range of any deck trying to burn you down. The weapon also gives us decent single-target board control, essentially allowing us to take out any must-kill minion while still gaining health. Fence and Vendetta give us efficient small removal. Value is easy to find despite the low curve of the deck, with burgles adding lots of stuff to your hand and Secret Passage and Cutting Class allowing you to find more cards whenever you’d like. Sap is a phenomenal card against the meta right now and will singlehandedly win you games. This deck heavily struggles to clear wide boards. Occasionally your burgles will help you out a bit here, but the Odd Paladins and Even Shamans of the world will simply build another one and another one and another one until you can’t clear it. Weapon hate cards also give us fits, including Zephyrs the Great who is the single biggest reason that you’ll rage at your screen. It’s also a fairly draw-dependant deck. You need your weapon, your buffs, and your burgles. If you don’t find one of these, you will lose the game. I found myself doing okay on this front (thank God for Secret Passage) but sometimes both Shinyfinders and both Cutlasses will be the bottom four cards of your deck and you will lose. Card Choices: Weapon Package: (2x) Deadly Poison (2x) Cavern Shinyfinder (2x) Spectral Cutlass (2x) Tinker’s Sharpsword Oil (2x) Cutting Class The two Shinyfinders (and to a lesser extent Secret Passage) help us hit our win condition of Cutlass as soon as possible. Once we have a cutlass equipped, Deadly Poison and Tinker’s Sharpsword Oil give the weapon enough attack to kill any threat, put our opponent on a clock, and restore massive amounts of health at the same time. Because we’re aiming to equip a big weapon every game, Cutting Class is nearly always a 0 mana draw 2 in the mid to late game which is obviously phenomenal. Burgle Package: (2x) Dragon’s Hoard (1x) Patches the Pirate (2x) Swashburglar (2x) Wand Thief (2x) Clever Disguise (2x) Underbelly Fence (2x) Vendetta Swashburglar is the only one mana burgle card with a body in the game. It thus gives us a free card that activates our synergies while also contesting the board on turn one. The inclusion of Patches thins the deck and allows us to play on even footing early with even board-centric aggro decks. An important note is if you’re against another rogue (I saw very few during my climb) Swashburglar will take a random rogue card, which won’t activate your Underbelly Fence or Vendetta, nor will it add durability to your cutlass. I originally included only one Wand Thief but it turns out Mage has some very good tools for our purposes. The wide variety of AOE effects, card draw, and freezes were nice, but the strongest part of Wand Thief is that Mage has so much shit that costs 0, 1, or 2 mana. While burgling Flamestrike is fun and can be the correct choice in some matchups, most of the time I’ll find that I’d much rather have a Freezing Potion that I can squeeze on top of other cards than a big spell that will take up my whole turn. While Mage does have some dud spells (Glacial Mysteries anyone?), the discover aspect means that you can almost always find something that will serve your purposes. This deck generally wants spells over minions because spells tend to have initiative and we rarely need to build a board to win the game. All of these aspects raised Wand Thief from a fringe inclusion to one of the strongest cards in the deck. Beware of picking Brain Freeze or Potion of Illusion as dual-class cards will NOT activate your burgle synergies or add durability to your Cutlass. Dragon’s Hoard was another card that I didn’t originally include two of. In fact, I didn’t have it at all in the deck’s first iteration. On the surface, it doesn’t make much sense. Hoard doesn’t help fight for board and gives us a minion not a spell. And not only a minion which might not have initiative, but legendary minions tend to be more expensive than average. So what was I thinking? Turns out legendary minions are powerful enough to justify the card. From Inara Stormcrash to Archmage Antonidas to Lucentbark, Dragon’s Hoard can simply win you the game off of one highroll. Just like with Wand Thief, there are plenty of terrible legendaries, but the discover aspect tends to offer at least one decent choice. Also, the card is damn fun and slamming down a King Krush for lethal as a rogue will never get old. Clever Disguise is simply a volume burgle. You need enough cards from other classes to pump your Cutlass up with enough durability to kill your opponent, and Disguise gets you two of them for two mana. I don’t love this card but it’s sheer efficiency makes it impossible to drop. Along with Cutlass, we use shockingly efficient removal tools Vendetta and Underbelly Fence as our burgle payoffs. Against board-centric decks like aggro druid, and decks with must-remove threats like Big Priest, these cards make a load of difference. Vendetta being zero mana nearly always gives it more flexibility as a combo activator for Wand Thief and Tinker’s. Fence is also a phenomenal play with Tinker’s - the six attack Rush minion will clear midgame threats while allowing your buffed weapon to swing face. Other Stuff: (2x) Secret Passage (2x) Sap (1x) Swindle (1x) Beneath The Grounds (1x) Vanish Secret Passage is broken and should be in every rogue deck ever. In a draw-centric deck like this, it’s even better. Can't find Cutlass? Secret Passage got you. Don’t have weapon buffs? Secret Passage got you. Don’t have enough burgles? Secret Passage got you. Need Vanish immediately? Secret Passage has motherfucking got you. Sap is our carry against Big Priest and any other deck that cheats out massive threats. Not killing the Blood of Ghuun, Walking Fountain, or Voidlord means that it can’t be rezzed and your opponent has to play it when they reach the appropriate turn. By which point, we hope that they’re dead. Sap also makes us one of the few classes that can deal with an early Edwin. Swindle is a true 30th card. When I cut Fan of Knives (More on that below) I needed one more card to fill the deck, and Swindle felt like a generic good rogue card that would make my draws marginally more consistent. Beneath The Grounds is my middle finger to highlander decks, especially Zephyrs the Great who gets his own section later. If you’re against a Reno Warlock or Machine Gun Priest, having this card will likely win you the game. If you aren’t, it’s probably a dead card unless you’re floating three mana for some reason. It says something about the Wild meta that I felt like this was a very worthy tradeoff and seriously considering putting two in. Vanish is a last hail mary against a deck that does manage to build a board against you. It pulls its weight especially against Big Priest, Evolve Shaman, and any kind of Deathrattle deck that tries to build an impenetrable board. But it also costs six mana, which makes it a very expensive and very dead card a lot of the time. I’ve had one copy since the beginning and it feels like the perfect number. A thing to note is that Vanish can bounce your own cards too - make sure to play your Swashburglars and Wand Thieves before Vanishing if you have hand space and mana to do so. Another point to remember is that if your opponent has more minions than they have hand space, Vanish will return the cards to your opponent’s hand in the order they were played. When your opponent hits ten cards, any remaining minions will be destroyed and their deathrattles WILL be activated. This is especially important for Scrapyard Colossus and Voidlord, who deathrattle into more taunts which block your weapon swing into the face of your opponent. Either destroy the original bodies so Vanish kills the deathrattle spawns or kill enough minions played before that the deathrattle taunts are safely returned to your opponent’s hand. Didn’t Make The Cut: I included two copies of Fan of Knives once I realized how terribly I was doing against Aggro Druid and Odd Paladin. For a while, they felt decent. A boardwide ping is nice, and Fan also cycles itself so it doesn’t even take up a valuable card slot. But then I realized two things about these decks. Odd Paladin has infinite minion generation potential with their hero power. Killing a board of 1/1’s might delay their buffs a turn, but doesn’t run them out of board refills because they can generate dudes without using cards. And aggro druid would either have a board buffed out of Fan range by turn three (and I would be dead) or they would run out of steam and awkwardly flop. In neither case was Fan drastically changing the game, even if it felt nice to kill a board of dudes. So out the door they went. Replaced with BTG because I was facing Reno Priest every game and Swindle because it just seemed good. It really hurt to cut Tess Graymane. She’s one of the most fun cards ever printed and slamming down waves of burgled shit never gets old. But as I transitioned to a spell-centric burgle deck, her random nature became more and more annoying. When Tess is slamming 8/8’s and 12/12’s, she’s phenomenal. When she Ice Lances your face, Fireballs herself, and gives your opponent’s minion a Blessing of Authority, she’s much less useful. Her cost of 8 mana simply made her far too expensive for the minimal number of times she was remotely useful. One thing I was consistently wanting in this deck was more weapon buffs. I experimented with Goblin Auto-Barber and Vulpera Toxinblade but neither ended up making the cut. Auto-Barber was too minimal a buff to feel particularly useful, and Toxinblade’s temporary status made her not worth the slot. This deck doesn’t exactly run minion threats, so Toxinblade was always eating my opponent’s removal and never really surviving more than a turn, which she needed to in order to be a strong inclusion. Of the other Burgle options, Hallucination and Blink Fox are the other ones that are even vaguely worth running. Hallucination would be a reasonable choice to experiment more with (potentially two over the Dragon’s Hoards) but I found them underwhelming due to the sheer number of dud or synergy-dependant cards in many classes. Oftentimes, I would have only one decent pick off a Hallucination with an expensive spell and an understated minion taking up the other two discover options. Blink Fox was too expensive for a Swashburglar effect and a 3/3 on turn 3 doesn’t cut it as a body in Wild. Both also suffer from the Swashburglar problem of being utterly cucked against Rogues. I also briefly considered replacing Beneath the Grounds with Bad Luck Albatross in order to mess Big Priest up. However, I wasn’t having a huge Big Priest problem, and the only way to kill Albatross in the deck is with Vendetta, which is often better used to kill the minions the priest is cheating. The Zeph Rules Zephyrs The Great is a phenomenally powerful card and a staple in two of the best decks in Wild - Reno Priest and Renolock. It also utterly destroys this deck by generating an Acidic Swamp Ooze on command to send your weapon to an ignominious and oozy demise. While there’s no denying that Zeph really sucks for this deck, there’s a couple of things we can try. Tactic 1: The Great Zeph Bait. If you’re able to draw into both cutlasses fairly early (not an uncommon occurrence), you can go for this strategy. Play a cutlass, drop a Tinker’s or a Deadly Poison, and potentially play a Burgled card or two. If I’m trying to force Zeph specifically, I will usually follow this by skipping my next swing. Essentially, you’re trying to make your weapon look as threatening as possible without committing many resources to it. When your opponent plays Zeph and subsequently Ooze, you can play your second Cutlass and fearlessly toss all of your buffs on it. If you go for the Great Zeph Bait, make sure to kill both minions before developing your second weapon, as a fair number of Reno decks run either bounce or copy effects. If they’re simply able to add another ooze to their hand and save it for your second weapon, you will be sad. Tactic 2: Make Zeph Whiff. Zephyrs is a phenomenal card, but his inability to understand card text can be his downfall. While he understands that Spectral Cutlass is a big weapon, he doesn’t realize that it can gain infinite durability. He doesn’t generally seem to value Lifesteal as highly as he should either. He also can’t look at decks, so he doesn’t realize that our only win condition is to buff the weapon. My point is that while Zeph is strong, he doesn’t value killing Spectral Cutlass nearly as highly as he should (a priority above all else except avoiding direct lethal). But because Zeph is still a discover and offers three cards, it isn’t easy to get him to not offer weapon hate at all. Essentially, you have get Zeph to value three other things more highly than destroying your weapon. If you can do this, he will not offer Ooze, even when a cutlass is active on your side. Many opponents don’t recognize these whiff factors, and won’t take measures to maximize their likelihood of hitting an Ooze (like playing Zeph with exactly two mana remaining). There are a few things you can do to maximize your chances of Zeph whiffing. These tips are roughly in order of effectiveness.
Keep your weapon as small as possible, both in Attack and Durability. Decreases the likelihood that Zeph will value weapon removal.
Build a board of minions. Increases the likelihood that Zeph will value AoE spells.
Play a Secret or two. Increases the likelihood that Zeph will offer Flare.
Play one large/must-kill minion. Increases the likelihood that Zeph will value removal.
Lower your opponent’s health. Increases the likelihood that Zeph will value healing.
Keep your opponent low on cards. Increases the likelihood that Zeph will offer draw. Careful about doing this if your weapon durability is more than one at 7+ mana as Zeph is more likely to offer Harrison Jones.
Niche cases. Keep an eye out for any conditions in the game that synergize perfectly with a basic/classic card that Zeph can offer. For example, if your opponent has a 1/10 minion, keep it alive as Zeph is more likely to offer Inner Fire. If they have three murlocs, Zeph is more likely to offer Coldlight Seer.
If you can create a game state where Zeph simply doesn’t offer ooze, you will be treated to a beautiful sight. Sex is great and all but a baffled opponent slowly mousing over each discover option before emoting and conceding is arguably the best feeling in the world. Tactic 3: Fuck it. Go balls to the wall and play like they don’t have Zeph. Throw all of your buffs on the weapon and come to terms with the fact that if they have him, you will lose. I will sometimes opt for this strategy if any of the following conditions are met.
At least two Beneath the Grounds Ambushes are still in the deck.
I have tried to bait Zeph and my opponent didn’t play him.
My opponent has played Lorekeeper Polkelt.
My opponent has very few cards or is topdecking.
If I don’t commit to the weapon now, I will definitely lose.
Zephyrs The Great is going to lose you a fair amount of games. But if you can pull off any of these strategies, you might sneak by him with some wins. Matchups: Odd Demon Hunter: This deck is weird. The best builds seem to be made up of a glut of the best-statted one-cost minions, Stiltsteppers, Acrobatics, Leeroy, and Baku. Our early game generally lines up well against these minions, and Odd DH generally lacks the burst to power through our healing once Cutlass gets to a threatening size. However, if we don’t draw into our early answers or fail to burgle fairly well, Odd DH is a phenomenally consistent deck and will always run us over if they get any room to do so. Even matchup. Soul DH: This deck seemed to be mostly piloted by standard players trying to climb in Wild. The burst of a Soul DH that hits all of its pieces can be impressive. But these combos often come online late enough that our cutlass is healing us for 8+ health every turn. Find something to deal with a full Soulciologist board, look to burgle taunts and freezes to stop the huge attacks from going face, and you’re cruising. Favored matchup. Aggro Druid: By cutting Fan of Knives I was essentially conceding the matchup if the Druid drew well. This has held true - if Aggro Druid has an explosive opener, you will lose the game. If they don’t, the deck is fairly easy to run out of resources. Voracious Readers can refill once or twice, but if I’m not dead by turn four I can frequently use removals efficiently and prevent them from ever building a threatening board. A card that deserves special mention is Bloodsail Corsair. If you’re careless against Aggro Druid and leave your weapon at one durability, a well-timed Corsair can snipe it and lose you the game on the spot. Unfavored matchup. Combo/Maly Druid: They can’t really do anything about us loading our weapon up and killing them. I only faced a couple of druids that weren’t aggressive and none of them put up much of a fight. Favored matchup, not much to say here. Hunter: I think I faced fewer than five hunters my entire climb, and they were all hyper aggro or janky deathrattle decks. We can generally prevent aggro Hunter from building a board, and their hero powers, Kill Commands, and such generally aren’t enough burst to beat through our healing. Deathrattle Hunter with plenty of taunts could potentially be a problem but it’s rezzes are much slower than Big Priest and it gets arguably even more destroyed by a well-timed Sap or Vanish. It’s a good idea to play around Zephyrs in this matchup until you know you’re not facing a Reno Hunter. I honestly didn’t find enough hunters to even say what might be favorable or not. Poor Rexxar. Quest Mage: Quest Mage is an annoying matchup for one reason and one reason only. They can generate a lot of freezes, which keep us from swinging our weapon for a turn. The amount of Freezing Potions, Ice Lances, and Frostbolts that seem to come out of Evocation, Magic Trick, and Mana Cyclone makes me want to tear my hair out. Our healing is rarely relevant against the OTK potential this deck brings. Otherwise, save Vendetta or another removal for your opponent’s Flamewankers and bring them down to low health as quickly as possible. Quick note on this matchup - Hitting your opponent in the face for lethal damage while they have Ice Block active will NOT heal you for any health. This interaction is consistent with other Lifesteal effects but still annoying and you will sometimes have to choose between setting off Ice Block and healing for 12. Even matchup. Secret Mage: I think before this expansion, Secret Mage would’ve been a much worse matchup for us. The switch to Rigged Faire Game as a main draw engine has a serious downside against a deck that is able to hit your face with an infinite weapon every turn. I won a significant amount of games by chipping away at my opponent every turn and denying them the all-important three cards. Play around Counterspell and Explosive Runes whenever possible as most decks run two copies and cheat them early. If we can get our weapon big enough, or run them out of face damage, we can safely heal out of the deck’s damage range. However, a Secret Mage firing on all cylinders is one of the best decks in the game and will win with a combination of well-statted minions, free secrets, and burn. Slightly unfavorable matchup. Odd Paladin: We struggle the most against decks that can build wide boards without committing many resources. Odd Pally is the unquestioned king of this strategy and thus tailor-made to bork us. I was able to win against this deck a couple of times when they filled up their board with 1/1’s and had no way to buff them, which was funny but not a particularly consistent win-con. Play around Oh My Yogg and Never Surrender, try to burgle AoEs, and accept that this is probably a 20-80 matchup or worse for us. Very heavily unfavored, and the bogeyman of climbing ladder with this deck. Not Odd Paladin: I ran into a couple of Even Paladins here and there which seemed like Odd Pally but slightly worse, a few Pure Paladins which got defeated by timely saps, and a single Mech Paladin who blew me out on turn four. They were so drowned out by the sea of Odd Pally however that I can’t write about them in extreme detail. Reno Priest: Beneath The Grounds carries another matchup. If they are able to get Raza and Anduin online, your main priority becomes keeping Anduin’s health below half to ward off Spawn of Shadows burst turns. As long as you can do that, we can mostly heal through their turns of chip damage with the hero power and eventually beat them down. Developing any minions we can will help with this plan because the low-health Anduin will be forced to waste hero powers clearing the minions, buying us more time. Favored matchup. Big Priest: Sometimes when you’re playing against Big Priest, they cheat out a Vargoth and a Blood of Ghuun on turn 4 and you just lose. Sometimes, they do nothing for nine turns and you win. It’s the matches in between these extremes that we focus on. Keep your Saps and plan your Vanish turn wisely. Most Big Priests nowadays don’t run Obsidian Statue, but place the highest priority on sapping it if they do. The combination of lifesteal and taunt means that we essentially lose the game if it ends up in the rez pool. Even or slightly favored matchup. Rogues: I faced a hodgepodge of Rogue decks, none of which really felt like a complete list. Combo-style rogues lack taunts and healing and get subsequently demolished by our weapon before they can do anything interesting. Kingsbane Rogue does what we do, but slower and without Lifesteal on every turn. VS says Odd Rogue is a decent deck, but I only saw one on my climb which wasn’t able to do enough damage to burst through the Cutlass healing. Mill Rogue is cute but terrible. I also ran into another Burgle Rogue but he was playing a version with Blink Foxes and Hallucinations which performs very poorly against other rogues. Favored matchup against the entire class I suppose? Even Shaman: I barely faced any of these on my climb, but I think I lost every time I did. We can’t really clean up their wide and efficient boards, and Sea Giant and Thing From Below aren’t bothered by Sap. Unfavored matchup. Big Shaman: Sap is phenomenal in this matchup. Like any Big deck, there will be some games where you don’t draw what you need and get blown out on turn four. But much more often, you’ll find games where the deck puts out a big threat, it gets sapped, and they sputter for a couple turns while you make a giant weapon and start whacking them. Try to avoid playing minions in the mid-late game while pushing for lethal because Walking Fountain or Tidal Wave will allow them to find critical heals. Favored matchup. Aggro Warlock (Pain/Zoo/Discolock): We like this matchup because if your opponents lower their health total quickly enough, we can often start to threaten lethal with our weapon as soon as turn six. Our cheap and flexible removal generally lets us get priority targets like Darkglare, Malchezar’s Imp and Tiny Knight of Evil off the field before they kill us. Discolock doesn’t have the consistent board floods of the decks that really fuck us and Fence and Vendetta line up well against their threats. But at the end of the day, they are an aggro deck and will win if we whiff our draws at all. I faced few Pain and Zoolocks, but Discolock was one of my favorite matchups to play with this list and I felt like it was at worst even and potentially even slightly us-favored. Cubelock: A problem matchup. We simply aren’t able to kill waves of big demons. Vanish and Sap let us delay the threats but once we run out of stalling power Voidlord very effectively prevents us from swinging our weapon to face. Fortunately, Cubelock has an abysmal matchup against Priest and has thus fallen a bit out of the meta. I only saw a few on my climb, but if they start cheating Voidlords before we have them to sub-15 health, we are in huge trouble. Slightly unfavored matchup. Renolock: We stan Beneath The Grounds. Renolocks will generally play defensively and take damage fairly freely in the early game. Generally don’t play BTG on turn three because renolocks draw so much that they’re fairly likely to hit at least two ambushes if you give them enough time. If I have it in hand, I’ll hold it until I start buffing my weapon or until they’re sub fifteen health and might be feeling pressured enough to use Reno. If you don’t find BTG, follow the Zeph Rules and pray to God that you draw it quickly. Tickatus is rarely particularly relevant because if they find the time to corrupt and play it multiple times the game was lost a long time ago. Renolock will often have big taunt Demons also, but they come in more manageable waves than Cubelock. With BTG, this is a favored matchup. Odd/Control Warrior: This matchup is pretty simple. Make your weapon as big as possible as quickly as possible in order to chip through their armor. If they run weapon hate and are able to draw it, you will lose. If they don’t, you will eventually win - they don’t have much to stop you smacking them for 10+ damage every turn. I only ran into three of these decks on my climb and got Stickyfingered twice, so my gut says that it’s unfavorable. Pirate Warrior: Oh how the mighty have fallen. Pirate Warrior simply feels weaker than other aggro decks and its lack of boardwide buffs makes its minions much less threatening. Their highrolls are as scary as ever, but kill Ship’s Cannon and Skybarge on sight and be wary of burst coming in the form of Leeroy or Kragg, and the healing from your built-up weapon will generally outpace their damage. Their biggest strength (efficient trading with minion boards) isn’t particularly relevant against us. Slightly favored - one of our best aggro matchups. Beware of Bloodsail Corsair! My Favorite Wins: Playing a deck that runs on adding random cards to your hand will occasionally lead to hilarious victories with cards your opponent never expected to need to play around. There were too many to write about, but here were some highlights.
I played a Hunter and hit a terrible Dragon’s Hoard on turn one where my best option was a Knuckles. I reluctantly picked it and it sat in my hand until later in the game, where I pulled Houndmasters off both of my Swashburglars. Three houndmaster buffs (one got returned to my hand via Freezing Trap) and a Tinker’s Sharpsword Oil later, I beat my opponent into submission with an unkillable 12/13 Knuckles. I find it possible that it’s the only time Knuckles has actually won someone a game.
I found a Cloning Device off of a Clever Disguise and yoinked my Shaman opponent’s Shudderwock, followed by two Dragon’s Hoards that gave me Dinotamer Brann and a second Shudderwock. I waited until my deck was low enough that no duplicates remained, and played Brann, Shudderwock, second Shudderwock, and thwacked him with four large stompy dinos over three turns.
I burgled a Totem Goliath off Swashburglar, Totemic Might off Clever Disguise, and a Grand Totem Eys’or from Dragon’s Hoard. My poor Shaman opponent was beaten to death by a rogue’s board of basic totems.
While playing a Big Priest I got a Lucentbark off Dragon’s Hoard and a Seance and Power Word: Replicate off Clever Disguise. Turns out three 4/8 taunts that resurrect every turn will win you the game, even against Big Priest with a full rez pool.
A Pirate Warrior wrested board from me, beat me to two health with two cards in hand and one durability on my weapon, and began emoting aggressively. Fortunately, one of those two cards was an Inara Stormcrash which allowed me to deal 26 damage (and kill him) on turn 8.
This deck is by far the most fun I’ve ever had playing Hearthstone, and this list is viable at Legend ranks. I encourage everyone to give it a try. Thanks for making it to the end and please comment with questions! Happy thieving!
The idea is to tie a thin string around a coin and deposit it. When a deposit is registered, you yank the string and pull it out. If you know anything about modern slot machines, you probably just laughed out loud. Out of all the slot machine hacks and cheats, this most definitely would not work today. You know more about slot machine cheating than you probably should. But you probably also know about Tommy Glenn Carmichael, the so-called “Godfather of Slot Machine Cheats.” Carmichael, a former television repairman who parlayed his technical skills into a career as a professional cheat, invented all three of those devices used to fool a mechanical slot’s sensors into unloading its coin ... In the past there have been numerous ways to cheat on land-based slot machine which included a coin on a string, foreign coins, spooning, holding the bag, using a magnet and the monkey paw cheating tool. Several arrests were made and since the 1960’s slot machines are protected against the influence of magnetism. The previously described ways to beat slots had something to do with how money was inserted into the machine. The next slot cheat, as well as a lot of the following ones, are different. They affect the ways slots pay out money, more specifically coins. How to Trick the Slot Machine Into Paying You. 1. Try Using a Magnet. The magnet method is one of the oldest methods of cheating slot machines. How do you cheat a slot machine with a magnet? In the past, classic slot machines were magnetic. So, people could use magnets to trick them. Probably one of the most popular methods of cheating at slots was a top-bottom joint, a unique tool made of two parts. On the top it has a metal rod with a long wire at the bottom. That long wire was put inside the slot machine coin chute, whereas the metal rod was used to go through the coin slot. How do you trick a slot machine? So, a lot of novice casino players ask “how do you trick a slot machine?” We all know that the odds of winning the jackpots in these games is quite low. Some players are so defeated by that fact that they want to resort to cheating. To cheat at slots using a magnet, you could spin the reels and then use a strong magnet on the outside of the machine to stop them spinning when you saw your winning combination. Cheaters would ... Do you wonder how to win at slots? It is luck and nothing else. You cannot cheat slots or use a “system”: All games are random and you cannot predict the results. Sure, there are some tips and tricks you can use to increase your chances of winning, such as choosing games with high RTP rates but that’s it: You cannot cheat the system. You may have heard of such stories yourself, and whilst no one has ever shown that by doing so it is possible to defraud or confuse a slot machine, the designer of gaming machines did take some steps to ensure that a cell phones signal will have no negative effects over the running and operation of a slot machine.
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