With the extensive use
of social media, the
landscape of the Kaijudo
social world has already
differentiated itself
from that of Duel
Masters by leaps and
bounds. During the days
of Duel Masters the
anonymous writer behind
the computer screen,
pounding out words in
hope that someone,
anyone cared to read
them was the norm. Now
with the likes of
Twitter, Facebook and
the ungodly behemoth
known as Youtube,
players of all sorts
have found an outlet to
more fully express their
support for the game
they love. In the few
short months of Kaijudos’
existence, more words
have been spoken and
written regarding
Kaijudo than Duel
Masters had during its
entire existence.
It is from that
understanding which
“From the Vaults of the
Kaijudo Masters” is born
as a series of articles.
These articles are
intended to present a
series that may function
as a primer of sorts.
With this I hope that we
might more quickly
introduce new players to
some of the great and
passionate content out
there. In addition, for
those already familiar
with said content I hope
that I can help bring us
a bit closer as a
community with new
perspectives and
understanding regarding
those content providers.
The KaijudoChannel is the longest running channel available with a
significant amount of
both Duel Masters and
Kaijudo content. Cory
has had a great deal of
impact amongst the
community and made a
name for himself with
more followers than any
other Kaijudo YouTube
vlogger!
Stats
Subscribers: 1,127
Views: 174,326
Type of Videos: Matches, Deck Profiles, Card Reviws and News &
Commentary.
Web Address:
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheKaijudoChannel
JMatthew:
So, who are you in real
life?
Cory: My name's
Cory, a 20 year old
living in Montreal,
Quebec, Canada. I
currently work 40 hours
a week as a software
developer, so I do not
have too much free time
on my hands once you
factor in work with how
many hours I put into my
YouTube channel. I've
always loved games,
especially card games
from Pokemon to Yu-Gi-Oh
to Duel Masters and
finally, now to Kaijudo!
J: Why do you play
Kaijudo?
C: Mainly because
Duel Masters was the
bomb! I only got to play
it at the very end of
the game and I only had
cards that people gave
to me. Unfortunately, I
was too young then and
my parents did not want
me to compete at any
events (which I don't
think there were any
nearby and even if there
were, I was way too
young to know about it).
J: Do you have a
favorite card and why?
C: It's so tough to
choose a favorite, but
considering my favorite
animal is the koala,
it's kind of hard to not
choose Scaradorable of
Gloom Hollow. Squeaky's
just so adorable and all
the different kinds of
Scaradorables actually
have some pretty great
effects!
J: What is your
favored play style?
C: I've always been
a fan of Control because
of the limitless amount
of plays you can make
and the sheer strength
of the deck once you
survive into the late
game of the duel. It's a
very hard archetype to
play though and I feel
that I have a lot to
learn to be a better
pilot of those kinds of
decks.
J: What made you
decide to start your own
Kaijudo Channel on
YouTube?
C: There are a couple
reasons. First of all, I
felt that I had enough
experience with YouTube
in that I can actually
maintain a very healthy
and fun channel.
Secondly, I knew a lot
about the success of
other card games on
YouTube and I felt that
making a channel based
on a new game would both
give me a better chance
to get myself known AND
to try and get this
amazing game more known
amongst the TCG
community. I still
cannot believe how far I
have gotten so far and
with the way things have
been going, I feel that
it ended up being a
win-win situation for
both me and the fans!
J: Many former Duel
Masters players have
discussed that from a
set design perspective,
Kaijudo offers a
different feel from Duel
Masters thanks to
increased mana cost to
play card, cards
designed specifically to
interact with a
creatures level and so
forth. From this set
design perspective,
where would you like to
see the developers of
Kaijudo take the game?
C: Excellent
question! I am not too
surprised at how
well-designed the cards
are so far with the huge
card pool at our
disposal. The game is
just so much more
balanced and you can
tell that WotC tried
their best to learn from
their mistakes with Duel
Masters and adapt it
into a much more fun,
balanced game that is
still as skill-intensive
as Duel Masters was.
Also, the new concept of
level-based effects is
absolutely genius! I
cannot believe they did
not even come up with
that kind of effect for
the longevity of Duel
Masters. Honestly, if
they keep things going
the way it has been for
the past few sets, this
game is going to be one
heck of a rollercoaster
ride! I'm quite curious
to see how they tackle
multi-civilization
cards!
J: Amongst the more
outspoken of the
community there has been
a great deal of concern
with regards to how WotC
is handling competitive
play. At this point,
WotCs response seems
fearful or create and
true competitive play at
the risk of "placing one
player on the podium
above the others. Where
do you stand as far as
the competitive play
issue goes? Does Kaijudo
require the serious
competitive environment
traditionally offered by
CCGs or is WotCs vision
of a less competitive,
more cohesive play
environment the way to
go?
C: The "podium"
issue is, quite
honestly, a myth. You
can talk to almost any
kid out there and ask
them, "Would you love to
get first place in a
tournament?" and their
answer would obviously
be yes! Now, of course,
the real problem at hand
is them not making it to
the podium and being
discouraged not to play
anymore because they are
not winning. The whole
point of games is the
obstacles you must
overcome to win a game.
Sure, you'll lose and
you'll lose a lot, but
through all those
losses, you get more
practice and you learn
from your possible
mistakes.
Let's just compare this
to a simple video game.
In most games, to beat
the game, you must
overcome the final boss,
but to get there, you
must play through a
bunch of different
levels with a bunch of
different obstacles. As
you play more and more,
you start losing lives
and even getting game
overs, but that is
exactly the point of it
all; you must figure out
why your are losing
lives and overcome these
obstacles to eventually
take on the final boss
and claim victory!
The EXACT same thing
applies to Kaijudo, TCGs
and any other kind of
game for that matter!
You will face tons of
different players of
many different ages (who
will not all be 8-12
year old, let's be
honest here) with many
different kinds of decks
and by playing all these
games, you pick up how
cards work and their
strengths/weaknesses.
From there, you learn
how to make a stronger
and stronger deck and
eventually, you become
an efficient duelist and
have much better chances
to win than you did when
you first started.
With all that being
said, Kaijudo NEEDS the
competitive environment
for the game to stay
alive and come next
year, once the game has
been out for a good year
and the cards are in the
hands of a bigger amount
of people (whether they
are in the target
audience or not), WotC
will be a lot more
comfortable to agree on
setting up organized
play.