-----Original Message-----
From: Kelvin Richardson [mailto:ellgieff@hotmail.com]
 

In the short time that I've been active in Duel Masters, both in terms of playing and in terms of using the many forums that abound, one thing has become abundantly clear.

Many of the people that play DM are in search of that perfect deck, the one that will catapult them into the realms of superstardom ... or at least the realms of winning their local tourney, if not Gen-con.

I've been prey to this idea myself, and spent much of last weekend trading to get four Jack Vipers, because if I could just get enough of them my deck would be able to beat the Mono-nature evo rush that seems to do best in the local environment. Suffice it to say, I managed to get the four Jacks I wanted ... but playtesting has shown it to not be the gamebreaker I was hoping.

Which leads me to the point: it's not the deck that wins. Let me say that again, because I think a few of you might have missed it. A deck, by itself, is just a stack of pieces of cardboard. It's the player that drives

the deck, that makes the deck perform ... and it doesn't really matter how impressive the "deck" is, if the player plays it badly, she (or he) won't win.

This became apparent when I played at the league games that's just been setup in the mall. The demo guys aren't DM players, per se ... they were all M:tG people who'd been asked to run the JDc stuff. So, they didn't have

"decks" as most DM players would think of them. In fact, in their decks (3
civs!) had at least a couple of cards that, if you had the gall to put them in a deck list for rating/fixing, people would say "Just don't play that card, it's rubbish"

And yet these guys were competitive, in the sense that they didn't get beaten every time. Why? Because they played the decks they had well.
Because they adapted their tactics to the current game environment, in terms

of what was in the field, and in their hands. Because they thought about the cards they had, and how to play them best at this moment.

Sure, the Mono-nature evo deck in my meta is well-constructed, and it's currently the top deck. But it's not just the deck, it's the way it's played. And I firmly believe that it can and will be beaten ... once I can stop looking for the magic bullet card that'll win me the game, and start really thinking about what I'm playing, and how I'm playing it, and why.

Some of it is understanding the difference between strategy and tactics.

Strategy is your deck design. It's how you intend for the duel to go, and the sorts of aims your deck has (Like: It's a control deck. I want to keep the battle zone as free of his creatures as possible, so I can nibble away at his shields with weenie attackers). It's long-range, general planning that might consider what your opponent may do in a general fashion (how do I

deal with a blocker swarm? What am I going to do against evo double
breakers?) but doesn't deal with specifics.

Tactics is the short-range goals that occur during play ... tactics is about

"what do I need to do this turn, and next turn, to achieve my ends?".
Tactics deals with what you have in your hand, and in the battle zone, right

now ... and sometimes the current game environment can make it tactically sound to break your strategic goals (So, mana that Jack Viper, because right

now we need Death Smoke to deal with what they just dropped).

What does all this mean in terms of actually playing the game? It means that it's not as simple as "I'll put these cards in, and that means I win".

There are no ftk decks here. It also means that there's not a simple "Aggro

beats Control. Control beats Combo. Combo beats Aggro" triangle ... for a start, there aren't combos in the sense that M:tG uses that terms to describe decktypes.

It means that any deck can be beaten by just about any deck, provided the other deck is played well (and isn't a completely random pile of cards). It

also means I have hopes that one day I'll finally play myself a Darkness deck that'll beat the pants of that green beast!

It means that not only should you spend time building your deck, you should spend time getting to know it. Play it, play it, play it ... even if you're

playing against a goldfish. Don't be afraid to lose, because you'll learn more from a loss than you will from a win. Don't be afraid to tinker, and certainly don't be afraid to try out things that might go against the conventional wisdom ... it may not be necessary to run four of a card you only need to see once, particularly if the slots you free up can give you some more flexibility ... a card that's no good in some builds may be just the thing to fill a hole in another build ... hell, just the surprise
factor: "You're playing WHAT?" can give you enough advantage to win a game
;)

Most of all, enjoy. Heck, I'm not sure my Jack Viper/Mongrel Man builds will ever be seriously competitive ... but the times it does work are well worth it for the sheer fun of slapping people around with Marrow Ooze :D

If anyone wants to contact me about this rant, please feel free to email me
at:

ellgieff@hotmail.com

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