Subject: Card Advantage and Board Control- Unknown Duelist

The experts all know about card advantage and board control, so i will 
explain to a newbie or a confused person.

The cards in your hand give you options to play. Let's say that the 
opponent has Gemini elf in play. If you have card advantage, you will play 
a Goblin Attack Force, Penguin Soldier and / or Fissure or Tribute to the 
Doomed. If your opponent has card advantage, you will only have something 
like GAF. You will attack and kill Gemini, all right. Next turn they will 
destroy the GAF with TttD or a fissure.

Board control is simply having more cards on the field that your opponent. 
Good cards to have are ones that establish board control. All the cards 
like instant destroy (MST, TttD, Mirror Force) are always good to play if 
you want board control.

Now, let's review the cards to use. Any time you play a card, you have a 
trade-off. You lose a card in hand to play it. Let's make sure. Let us 
review fissure. The way I grade a card (except for lifepoint related cards) 
is how the trade works. Fissure is a 1 for 1 trade. A card in your hand 
goes for an opponent's card and it gives you board control, but you have 
less card advantage. I try to play 1 magic or trap a turn to save card 
advantage, or 2 in a bad moment or to drastically gain board control. 
Raigeki is a good card because it has potential for MASSIVE board control. 
It has a potential 1 for 5 tradeoff. By the way, in 1 tip I read, it wasn't 
a true staple because it "only goes into offensive decks". I think it goes 
into deck depletion and defense/burner because it gets rid of threats like 
Jinzo killing your Gravity Bind or/and a monster that somehow managed to 
bypass your defenses and is killing your monsters/LPs.
Next is tribute monsters. 1-tributers are a 2-for-1 trade. You kill a 
monster on the field and 1 card advantage. But they are still good because 
they can get great board control, like Summoned Skull's high ATK or Jinzo's 
trap stopping ability. 2-tributers are bad because they are 3-for-1, which 
is 2 tributes. Bad for board control, if you ask me. Good thing reanimation 
brings it to 2 for 1 cost. Pretty good.  Penguin soldier is 2 for 1, good 
trade. TttD is 2-for-1, mediocre cost but can kill face downs, which gives 
the opponents potential board control.

I will give a few stats on my strategy and some tips.

Draw a card: +1 card advantage

Attack and destroy a monster: + 1 board control

Destroy a Magic/Trap: +1 bc

Play a card: -1 ca, +1 bc if played a monster or set/permanent M/T

Lose a card in hand: -1 ca

Keep these values in your head and if your Card Advantage/Board control and 
you have a good chance of winning, unless you are losing LPs.

Random Tips!

There are no "bad" cards, only ones that you don't like. One man's trash is 
another man's treasure.

Less swearing.

Please, Yu-Gi-Oh is a game. (again) Please don't spend about 100-300 bucks 
to become a tournament player. (glances at players with 3 of Gemini, Kycoo, 
Bazoo, Spear Dragon, GAF, and others) If you can earn them, good. I am not 
blaming you. By my point, I am stating that you should not spend too much 
on Yu-Gi-Oh as you do food and other essentials. With the money that I 
could buy Gemini Elf, Mirror Force or Injection Fairy Lily, I could get 
myself a full 4-course meal at a restaurant for my family or a GBA game and 
have some left over. It is a past-time activity, not a way of life. (sets 
up hatemail shield)

All comments go to DarkDragon607@aol.com.

---UNKNOWN DUELIST---