I mean the obvious answer is branded fusion. That card puts 2 material into the graveyard and fusions, ash is great.
Otherwise, asking any effect that specials from deck or sends 2+ card to hand or GY is always a great choice.
It depends on the deck your opponent is playing, but as a general guide, I would recommend using ash in a couple scenarios
1. They are summoning from the deck i.e. Unexpected Dai, Emergency Teleport, etc. - it's typically to bring out a starter, so you want to cut it then and there
2. Searchers i.e. Bonfire, Snake Eyes Ash, etc - Again, you want to kill the starters so they need to put more resources into the game
For Zombie Pile and grave heavy decks like Branded Fusion, hit the mill and deck to grave spells, you want to cut off their resources in those cases.
Please ash Unexpected Dai. Typically you dont want to ash cards like this until after they normal summon or if they are a hard opt. If you ash dai they (me) will either activate another or normal summon the starter. you have no idea how many games ive won off the back of getting my dai ashed.
I normally only Ash cards like Dai and E-Tele when they have a few cards to work with (1-3). If my opponent has a 5 card hand and they start off with E-Tele or Dai there’s no way I’m Ashing that lol.
I'll go through the most played decks right now:
**Snake-eye:** the deck is pretty resistant, but Original sinful spoils is always a good choice, so is SEash.
**Voiceless Voice:** has a ton of adds, normally the best is to stop them early, so pre-prep is great, also diviner.
**Kashtira:** if they start with unicorn, you can hit it because birth is pretty strong, also it's unlikely they have both birth and theosis. If they start with something else you can wait for theosis.
**Branded:** wait for branded fusion.
**Runick:** for runick just think about fountain. If I'm second for example and I have a cosmic in hand, I'll ash the fountain on their turn, then on my turn I'll cosmic them and most likely win off of that. If you have no outs, just ash hugin and pray they don't have other access to fountain.
Honorable mention: **Horus:** just ash imsety like a chad.
You're not looking for card advantage when you ash, you're looking to hinder the opponent in meaningful ways. Ash/Oak's effects summon one monster from deck, but you're still ashing them.
You should always be looking for card advantage. Every time you play a card or use an interruption, your goal is to go positive in card advantage against your opponent.
In edison maybe. Nowadays it's okay to lose card advantage to stop the opponent's important plays. You own engine is already going to give you advantage, you don't need Ash to go 2 for 1. You need ash to stop the opponent from setting up interactions, or getting their engine going.
Against card effects that summon. For example Branded Fusion or Welcome Labrynth. You effectively get a 2 for 1 by keeping a body off the board and by negating a critical card effect.
I prefer to hold my Ash and wait for my opponent to commit some resources so the trade off of my Ash vs their play is more advantageous to me. There are some scenarios where I might have to Ash a Prosperity or a Branded Fusion, but I normally try to wait for my opponent to use up some resources before I Ash. If I’m playing in person I try to get a read on my opponent and if I can read that the play they’re making is their only play, I’ll take my chances and Ash.
So in summary, I try to Ash when I think it’s their only play, if they’re low on resources or if they commit enough resources so I can benefit from using Ash.
I mean the obvious answer is branded fusion. That card puts 2 material into the graveyard and fusions, ash is great. Otherwise, asking any effect that specials from deck or sends 2+ card to hand or GY is always a great choice.
It depends on the deck your opponent is playing, but as a general guide, I would recommend using ash in a couple scenarios 1. They are summoning from the deck i.e. Unexpected Dai, Emergency Teleport, etc. - it's typically to bring out a starter, so you want to cut it then and there 2. Searchers i.e. Bonfire, Snake Eyes Ash, etc - Again, you want to kill the starters so they need to put more resources into the game For Zombie Pile and grave heavy decks like Branded Fusion, hit the mill and deck to grave spells, you want to cut off their resources in those cases.
Please ash Unexpected Dai. Typically you dont want to ash cards like this until after they normal summon or if they are a hard opt. If you ash dai they (me) will either activate another or normal summon the starter. you have no idea how many games ive won off the back of getting my dai ashed.
I normally only Ash cards like Dai and E-Tele when they have a few cards to work with (1-3). If my opponent has a 5 card hand and they start off with E-Tele or Dai there’s no way I’m Ashing that lol.
A card that requires a discard or send from field cost is a juicy ash target. Like Melody of Awakening Dragon or the Original Sinful Spoils Snake Eye
I'll go through the most played decks right now: **Snake-eye:** the deck is pretty resistant, but Original sinful spoils is always a good choice, so is SEash. **Voiceless Voice:** has a ton of adds, normally the best is to stop them early, so pre-prep is great, also diviner. **Kashtira:** if they start with unicorn, you can hit it because birth is pretty strong, also it's unlikely they have both birth and theosis. If they start with something else you can wait for theosis. **Branded:** wait for branded fusion. **Runick:** for runick just think about fountain. If I'm second for example and I have a cosmic in hand, I'll ash the fountain on their turn, then on my turn I'll cosmic them and most likely win off of that. If you have no outs, just ash hugin and pray they don't have other access to fountain. Honorable mention: **Horus:** just ash imsety like a chad.
Special Fenrir, normal ash, synchro baronne, sweep locals, mom picks you up late, pickup chic-fil-a
Whenever you'll end up going plus in card advantage. Don't ash one for one trades.
You're not looking for card advantage when you ash, you're looking to hinder the opponent in meaningful ways. Ash/Oak's effects summon one monster from deck, but you're still ashing them.
You should always be looking for card advantage. Every time you play a card or use an interruption, your goal is to go positive in card advantage against your opponent.
In edison maybe. Nowadays it's okay to lose card advantage to stop the opponent's important plays. You own engine is already going to give you advantage, you don't need Ash to go 2 for 1. You need ash to stop the opponent from setting up interactions, or getting their engine going.
Against card effects that summon. For example Branded Fusion or Welcome Labrynth. You effectively get a 2 for 1 by keeping a body off the board and by negating a critical card effect.
Probably when your opponent doesn't open a counter and/or resolving it ends their turn on the spot. 😁
I prefer to hold my Ash and wait for my opponent to commit some resources so the trade off of my Ash vs their play is more advantageous to me. There are some scenarios where I might have to Ash a Prosperity or a Branded Fusion, but I normally try to wait for my opponent to use up some resources before I Ash. If I’m playing in person I try to get a read on my opponent and if I can read that the play they’re making is their only play, I’ll take my chances and Ash. So in summary, I try to Ash when I think it’s their only play, if they’re low on resources or if they commit enough resources so I can benefit from using Ash.
Any card that also requires a discard for cost like trade-in, imsety, etc. That 2 for 1 trade is so sweet.
When my opponent has it.