For More Advanced Players

Good tricks to know:

• Spirit of White Dragon is only vulnerable when you attack it. Don’t try to ECon or Vampire Vamp it before the battle phase.
• Don’t ECon first against Masked Heroes decks. Mask Change will override that ECon, which could have gone to stopping Masked Hero Anki’s attack.
• When playing against an Umi-Sea Assault deck, make sure to take out the Umi first with Vampire Grace and Vampire Kingdom.
• Try to intervene in the damage step. Even playing the TCG as a child, declaring an attack is the most vulnerable stage of any given turn.
• Activate Simultaneous Loss first then Vampire Takeover for the proper chain order.
• The best counter to Silent Magician Level 8 - aside from Vampire Vamp - is to use traps like Mirror to intervene in the damage step or use SphereKuriboh to buy time. The best approach, however, is to never let the spellcaster needed for tribute summon to remain in the first place.

Do I set the initial Vampire Takeover in the middle? in the right? or alone?

• I’ve tried my best to fake out my opponents into thinking that I messed up on placements and put my takeover on the right.
• Later, I found it best to just bait out a removal and activate takeover than take the removal to begin with (albeit some of these tactics are to intentionally combo off with your Vampire Kingdom). Currently, I just set takeover in the middle alone against most matchups hoping that the opponent goes for a botched removal .

Using time as a weapon:

• Vampires have OTK potential; and as such, some games end on turn 2. As I progressed, I realized that I could use 5–10 seconds of my quick-play spell/trap activation menu to gauge my opponents’ reactions. If they have’t given up (and it seems obvious that they aren’t bluffing), I would suspect a WoD, Drowning Mirror Force, or any other reliable trap to stop my attack.
• Most duelists will still want you to call their bluff and won’t surrender. In such cases, attacking when only absolutely safe or when you can make safe trades is the best way to approach set spell/traps (ie. If you’re trying to grab lethal and have to wonder if the last set card after using Grace’s effect is WoD, Mirror Wall, Drowning Mirror Force or Paleozoic Canadia).

The Artwork for Vampire Kingdom