[wizardpipe@comcast.net]
Defending Gate Guardian's Honor
I keep seeing all this anger towards the Gate Guardian as a "useless" monster.  Unplayable is a word that's used a lot.  But I look at GG and see a problem to be solved, like any "When Cards Collide!" challenge.  It's time for people to get ingenuity as their tool instead of stale rants.  Since the biggest gripe about GG is a >9< monster tribute cost, that's where I'm going to start.  I don't promise a finish either, just a beginning...
 
Kaiser Seahorse- Sanga of the Thunder is a Light monster.  A GG deck should have one or two of these in their, either for the pure function of being the single Light tribute for Sanga or (unless our efforts to speed this deck up fail) as regular two-tribute food for the other two.  So running a GG deck with a Seahorse or two cuts the tributes down to  >8<.  It's a start.
 
Now it's probably real odd to help out a GG deck with a field card, but ALO is the way to go.  That's right, A Legendary Ocean.  I run a Suijin in my ALO deck.  Why would this card help out GG at all?  Because with A Legendary Ocean on the field, Suijin drops from a 2-tribute to a 1-tribute.  And gains some attack points, increasing the likelihood that it could stand up to other monsters on the field.  (Our speed is still not low enough that we couldn't expect an opponent to have one or two of their high-level monsters out.  But hey, having any of the three pieces out works too, 'cause their goes the attack strength of that monster.)  It may not be the best strategy, but adding an ALO or two brings the tribute count down to >7<.  (And it sure beats more of the same endless complaining.)
 
I think this alone is a good start.  Combine these two tactics with the standard Monster Reborn/Call of the Haunted/Premature Burial recursion cards and this deck has more speed than anyone might give it credit for.  Unfortunately, that's as far as I've gotten.  I don't know as many cards as others, so I still find myself lacking a solid way to get Kazejin, the Wind-type Spellcaster, out any faster.  Any ideas, anyone? 
 
Running a GG deck is still an obvious risk, but to know that it's out there, being done good and right and in the face of everyone who's ever trashed it because they can't see beyond their own theme or just love to talk trash?  Just knowing would be enough to make me a happy duelist.
 
Mike
wizardpipe@comcast.net