What's up
everybody! Today we are
going to deal with a very
special question I have
personally lost many matches
due to misunderstanding in
Duel Masters, the prior
version of Kaijudo. As most
of you know I earned the #1
global ranking for
sanctioned tournaments, and
this was one of the
challenges I had to face to
get there.
The Cost of Control
There are 3 main types of
decks: rush, aggro, and
control. Gates of Fate
moderator Kyle has written a
guide to these
here.
In Duel Masters, I was
primarily a control player.
I helped create the popular
Darkness + Water + Fire
control deck that we are
starting to see carried over
to Kaijudo now. However,
there are some major
differences in the cards
available for that game and
this one. They are playing
up an issue I had once other
duelists also began playing
control.
Stability or Consistency?
It may sound like I am
splitting hairs, but there
[b]is[/b] an important
difference. Throughout my
"career" as the #1 duelist,
I have been known to play a
large amount of cards that
cost more than 5 mana.
However, many of them are
creatures and serve to help
me win the game directly as
threats to my opponent's
shields.
In Kaijudo many of what I
call "utility" creatures, or
creatures with abilities
that help solve problems,
cost more than 5 mana. So
it's important we know this
while building our decks.
The issue here is that using
more of these utility
creatures will grant you a
big advantage in the mirror
match, a round where you
play an opponent using the
same deck type as you. Most
of these creatures give you
options while taking away
the opponent's, and having
more can easily slant the
mirror match in your favor.
However, these cards cost a
lot. If you are playing a
faster opponent, you will
have a hard time getting to
the point where these
creatures are valuable. It's
not worth much to summon
Tatsurion the Unchained when
you only have 1 shield left,
and your opponent has a
whopping 4 creatures in the
Battle Zone. Playing too
many high-cost cards puts
you in a place where you are
weaker early, and decks
focused on that can take
advantage of that to win the
match!
The New Twist
Different from Duel Masters,
almost all of the
best utility creatures we
have seen in Kaijudo cost 5
or more. In the past, we had
a fair amount that cost
less. These creatures were
used to stabilize early in the game, by
fighting the opponent's
creatures and carrying us
over to the point where the
utility creatures are
strongest. It was one of the
big balances in that game to
have enough creatures to
consistently win the mirror
match, but be able to
stabilize against more
aggressive strategies.
We have much less of these
creatures in the cost range
we want them in. I am
writing this before Evo
Fury, which does have some
great preview cards such as
Cyber Trader that can
potentially help. However,
the ones we see now are
usually based on attack.
But Tom! You said we need
the early guys to fight
creatures, and Aqua Seneshal
/ Razorhide do just that
while giving us more cards!
Settle down, Steve McGee.
Aqua Seneshal very good
right now, but wouldn't he
be better if he drew you a
card when summoned?
Here it is, guys. This card
is NOT found in Kaijudo yet,
but was the primary
"fighter" in the Duel
Masters control deck. The
difference is Seneshal can
be destroyed before he
attacks and gets you the
card. Also, if your opponent
waits to attack Seneshal
would have to hit a shield
for his effect. That gives
them more ways to take you
on once they have gotten rid
of your creature.
Aqua Hulcus is what we call
a floater, a card that
replaces itself in card
advantage when it enters
play. Aqua Seneshal is an
indirect floater because he
can replace himself through
attacking, but only if he
gets a +1 off the attack.
(For an explanation on Card
Advantage, check Andy Criss'
article
)
THE BIG DEAL?
We have virtually no
immediate floaters in
Kaijudo that can also
destroy a good amount of
creatures in battle.
Hydro Spy is similar to Hulcus but only has 1000
power. Bronze-Arm Tribe
costs 4, and by the time he
is summoned it's harder to
fight enemy creatures
without having something
else.
The Decision
So right now we are being
forced to choose only a
certain number of utility
creatures because they cost
so much, and that is making
the control deck weaker. The
"cost of control" has
increased, meaning we need
better low-cost cards to get
us to a place to use them
better.
However, there are less ways
to do that in this first
set, Rise of the Duel
Masters. What's important is
we don't overload the deck
in attempt to establish
complete control, and
undermine ourselves by
losing matches to the very
types of decks we aim to
control! You can win the
mirror match all day, but
you still need to be able to
beat other decks. That was
the point of the Dark +
Water + Fire deck to begin
with: to be able to handle
every threat in the game the
opponent can throw at you.
So remember to pick cards
that cost above 5 very
carefully, and try your best
to make sure they either
remove creatures from play
or provide some muscle. It
would be wise to make sure
your deck can regain it's
position while losing, as
well as ensure victory
winning with these utility
creatures.
Until next time!
* Tom Rogers was the #1
world ranked player in Duel
Masters, the game which
Kaijudo is based off. He co-admins
the website Gates of Fate,
which has the most
competitive Kaijudo content
on the internet.
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