Deck Theory,

& the Art of Dueling

v. III
January 8, 2008

Written by Jamal Thruston

Table of Contents

I.                     From the Writer

II.                   Introduction

III.                  Testing the Waters

a.      Learn the Environment

b.      Know your Objective!

IV.               Stand first, then walk – The Art of Field Control

a.      Take First!

b.      Think Cautiously

c.      Call in Reinforcements!

d.      Aside from hand, conserve EVERYTHING

e.      Reverse these for the enemy!

f.        The Test for Resource Managers

V.                 Stand first, then walk – The Art of Mind Control

a.      False Expressions

b.      Setup, or not?

c.      Playing oddball

d.      Test for Mind Freaks

VI.               The Concept of “Support”

a.      Developing a Solid Army

b.      Concept of “Deck Connection”

c.      Fat Cards

d.      Fast Cards

VII.              Stage I, Deck Pre-Development

a.      Central Idea

b.      Supporting Cards

c.      Ways of Finding Supporting Cards

                                                                          i.      The Common Way

1.      Oh, that looks cool!

2.      Searching through personal cards

3.      Guessing

4.      Copying off another

5.      Going by someone’s word

6.      And many more

                                                                        ii.      The Unorthodox Method

1.      The 8 Virtues

2.      Using the Virtues

3.      Why NOT to do this

4.      The First Virtue

5.      The Second Virtue

6.      The Third Virtue

7.      The Fourth Virtue

8.      The Fifth Virtue

9.      The Sixth Virtue

10. The Seventh Virtue

11. The Eighth Virtue

                                                                      iii.      The Orthodox Method

1.      Research

d.      Global Support

VIII.            Stage II, Deck Development

a.      The Deck Outline

b.      Deck Ratio

c.      Following Regulation

d.      The Monsters

e.      The Support

f.        The Side-Deck

IX.               Stage III, Deck Re-Development

a.      It’s time to Duel!

b.      Take Notes

c.      Apply Solutions, Duel, then Repeat

d.      Change

X.                 A Full Example of a Developing Deck

XI.               The D.P. Theory

a.      The greatest deck in the world

XII.              Duelist Tips

a.      Tips Used in Article

b.      Using Knowledge to Fix Decks

XIII.            Words to Card Developers

a.      Bring forth support

b.      A slight whine

XIV.          My Personal Decks

XV.           Conclusion

From the Writer

For the years I have played this game, I must say, what an adventure. For those who are just starting, or for those who desire to become strong in this card game or other games that involve conflict and war, I have written this document for your education, and for your adventure.

I started dueling the summer the card game of Duel Monsters released in America; from then to about spring of 2004, I competed in tournaments every single weekend, and I abusively dueled online and offline with both friends and enemies.

There’s so many people I wish to thank, but listing their names would be very time consuming – but you know who you are – the ones who dueled with me, talked game with me, and experienced this venture with me throughout all these years.

I learned so much from then to now – I remember when I first competed in this game … I was terrible! It took many years of trial and error to learn the reason why I was terrible, and how to never be terrible again. I hope I transform your thoughts on this game … or at least, give you an idea that you can take and make your own.

Good luck whoever you are.

Introduction

When one loses so many times, they either do two things: quit, or find a way to stop losing. Luckily for you readers, I took the route of trying to find the ways to quit losing. Now, one reason I lost was because my decks weren’t exactly … competitively normal. The first deck I ever ran was the beginner Kaiba deck that released along with Yugi’s – which got me into playing Seto’s cards for years till the banning age. I ran a deck that revolved around the 4 spirits: Fire, Earth, Air, Water (you should’ve saw my face when the next set released, with actual spirits). I ran FINAL, I ran a Muka Muka deck, and I ran a lot of other weird crap.

Anyways, the point is – I tried to play big tournaments with them.  I faired well, and even won some, but against some of the big dogs, they just didn’t stand up – and I wanted them to stand up. I have so many old notes of devising ways to make those decks work – and one of them came initially from the fact that a lot of cards are very similar to each other, in ways that may not exactly be as obvious to some.

The pictures … there’s a lot of similarities. 

So I started matching up stuff like this, and I found my deck working slightly better – it was as if everything was connecting more to each other.  So, eventually I went beyond, and began matching things like card descriptions, ATK/DEFs, attributes, etc. I questioned everything to the ground, found out what worked, what didn’t … and I continuously praised my ideas to individuals – mainly friends – who agreed with me, and helped me test the thoughts with making their own creative decks, and dueling against competitive tournament players.

You’re going to learn what has been learned and taught for so many hours a day, and for so many years. It took till late 2003 / early 2004 for the truth to be realized … the real secrets behind building the deck, and playing this game.

Grab a deck, get something to relax yourself – a hot drink perhaps – and use this guide to forever change your perspective of this game, and building a deck.

I know we don’t know each other, but all you can do is agree or disagree!

Testing the Waters

Learn the Environment

            In battle, it’s great to know your environment. Without knowledge of the environment, you walk into a war zone of compete mystery, which is quite dangerous, may you agree?

We will connect this ideal to the card game of Duel Monsters: get your rule book, and get to studying. Go to tournaments, and help judge. Question things as much as possible – know this game like the back of your hand. If you frequently visit online forums, help people out! If they have questions, answer them.  If their decks need fixing, fix them. If you made a mistake with your answers, learn what you did wrong, and try it again.

 Knowing the environment – the rules of the game – can save your life in a duel.

Study, study, study!

… In fact, don’t even read the rest of this till you know all the rules as natural as being able to count to 10.

Know your Objective!

Before you head out to war, you should surely know why you’re going to war in the first place.

Your overall objective is: to defeat your opponent. You are given many ways to win in this game, but for your sakes … think of the fastest and safest route.  In real war, would you rather have everyone alive and the problem taken care of, or – having your men represent life points – would you like making sacrifices to getting that victory?

Just like in war, sometimes sacrifices have to be made – but the less, the merrier. In this game, there is no difference; safest means coming out of battle without damage, and without much, or any, loss of resources (cards, lifepoints, etc.).

So, the best method of winning I see is bringing your opponent’s lifepoints to 0, rather than the other ways you have at winning the game (Exodia, FINAL, Final Countdown, deckout, etc.), which could take who knows how long due to so many variables existing – a lot of them, sadly, being random (this game is part luck).

Stand First, Then Walk – The Art of Field Control

Take First!

            Also before you head out into battle … make sure you know how to battle.  The individual who has field control will be dominate, and will have the better chances of winning.  The ideal goal is to always have control over the field, and if things begin to get bumpy, you’ll have reinforced back-up to get you out of trouble (that’s another thing your hand is for).

            When two duelists shake hands, and the duel begins … we have the problem of knowing who goes first. There are many ways to decide this: coins, dice, an agreement of some sort … but whoever goes first gets the field first. Some may believe it doesn’t matter who goes first, but to their dismay, it does. The individual initially gets control of the field, and if their hold is strong enough, they may be able to continue that hold throughout the game.

Think Cautiously

Anything can happen – this is not only a game of skill, but it is also a huge game of probability. You can never be arrogant with your motives … stay cautious, and when you make decisions, ALWAYS ask “what if …”

Call in Reinforcements!

            Always keep cards in your hand – especially cards that can save you if things go wrong.  Never go arrogant and throw down all of your good cards at once, unless you are 100% sure nothing can cause them to be destroyed or misactivated.

            If you continuously find yourself low at hand (2 cards or less continuously), then you need to reevaluate your deck, and find out what is causing your hand to be destroyed so quick and easy.

Aside from hand, conserve EVERYTHING

            Your lifepoints, your monsters, your support cards – you want them to be alive as long as possible.  The more men that die in battle, the greater the odds of losing become.  You know what happens when the entire army (deck) dies … you’re done.

            Here are some tips:

Reverse these for the Enemy!

1.      Make your opponent go SECOND, instead of going first, if you ever have the option.

2.      Try to use the tips from “The Art of Mind Control” to cause your opponent to think arrogantly instead of cautiously.

3.      Having a good back-up hand is good for you, and your opponent having one is also good for them – don’t let them build-up.  The longer the game stalls, the more cards they get, and the higher the odds of them winning become. Keep them at the border to make them play cards to save themselves from losing – hence why the “fastest” route to winning is handy.

4.      Don’t let their cards live, unless they really aren’t worth the effort to destroy. Make them waste all of their resources – the more they conserve, the tougher things may get.

The Test for Resource Managers

            I want you to become a master at Resource Management, so here is an activity for you to go through to test your knowledge.  Answers are at the end of Test B (under The Art of Mind Control)
 

Stand First, Then Walk – The Art of Mind Control

False Expressions

            This game is more than just physical – it is also mental. There are no rules that say you can’t use your mouth in this game – so use it wisely, and converse with your opponent, because it is an effective tool that can aid you in gaining field control, and the game entirely.

            Ever seen someone – or maybe this someone was you – who drew an ugly hand, and openly admitted it? How did the opponent react? Sometimes, the opponent may take that account in their heads, and act a little bit more aggressive – knowing that your cards, at the time, may not be powerful enough to stop their onslaught.

            Imagine this same scene happening, except the drawn hand wasn’t actually ugly. The duelist who said the hand was ugly was lying, and the opponent believed it enough to still act aggressive with their moves – the duelist laughs at the opponent’s arrogance with a few counters that changes the whole course of the rest of the game.

            Here are some tips for “False Expressions” – use some of them, or try making up your own!

Make your opponent feel as if they have the upper-hand by telling them – verbally or by facial expressions – how bad (read: good), your hand is! If they don’t fall for it, that’s okay, but if they do, prepare yourself and flip over the rug right under their feet!

Here we have the exact opposite – if your hand is bad, grin about it and pretend like it’s really going to make the game yours.  Really express how powerful your hand is, and set your cards like they’re ALL mirror forces.

Typically, this may get your opponent to waste strong support destroying cards such as: Heavy Storm, or Mystical Space Typhoon. It may also potentially make your opponent cautious enough to not even make an attack – it all depends on how you play it out, and if they really care or not.  Careless or not, it’s worth a shot – any psychological attack is better than none at all!

 What do I mean by this?  Well, ladies and gentlemen, and namely ladies, sometimes you may duel someone of the opposite sex (… or the same sex), and there might be times of attraction, or potential attraction.

If you play it sweet, and you act as if you’re a weakling, then your opponent might begin to lose their urge to immediately destroy you.  For example:

Feelings can be dangerous.  Use it wisely.

Now be very careful with this one, and I don’t exactly recommend it unless you rarely or never see the individual.  If there is tension between you two, then you have the opportunity to feed the tension to the point where your opponent because aggressive/arrogant enough to make some stupid careless moves.

By feeding, I don’t mean calling them names – though, that can work, and also lead to bloody noses and being kicked out of tournaments – but … well … you come up with your own ideas with this one.  It’s best to just poke fun at them while they’re already angry at you over something.

Setup, or Not?

The greatest fear man has is the unknown – if they know nothing about it, then they’re probably going to be very cautious when it comes to getting to know it. People who are afraid of snakes most likely aren’t too use to snakes – if they were stuck in a room with them, they’d eventually get to ease up with them, otherwise they’d be snake food.

            Ever dueled someone who had a LOT of traps?  Was you cautious at all about attacking them? It is scary to some duelists to be in the situation where they’re going up against more traps than they’d like to handle.

            If you have enough back-up resources, just incase things get wrong (Heavy Storm), lay down about 3, 4, or 5 traps.  Or, fake it and lay down some spell cards – this sometimes works great when it comes to stalling for a turn, for that heavy supported field is a bit risky to play offensive with.

            Don’t be afraid to toy around with your opponent.  When the opponent is confused, they are more vulnerable to defeat than ever. Every move starts from the thoughts – which is why this section of this guide is so important.

            When I look at decks to review, I typically see a LOT of spells, but hardly any traps!  Don’t underestimate the power of trap cards – I actually run the opposite, and it works effectively. 

Playing Oddball

There’s some funky ways to make duels go certain ways, and that’s a very famous move I use to pull (successfully) on many duelists throughout my days.  It is very confusing, and very odd, and this is how you play the game of oddball.

Be creative when it comes to this art, and make the mind game of Duel Monsters even harder for your opponent. 

Keyword: Ignore.  The only thing you should listen to when it comes to your opponent is what is actually on the field, and what is actually (where you can see) going on. Anything else – just blank it out, and play with these two elements in mind:  FIELD CONTROL and WIN!

Test for Mind Freaks

The Concept of “Support”

Developing a Solid Army

Support, support, support, support, support – I want you to write that on a large piece of paper, and post it up somewhere on your wall. “Support” will be the keyword here in building a deck -- your army.

I want you to take a look at this set of monsters, and tell yourself which does not fit in:

The answer is D.D. Trainer.  Can you figure why?  Well, for one thing, he’s not supported by ANY of the monsters – he’s not a warrior, so Command Knight and any support cards that deal with warriors do not remotely touch him, and he doesn’t even have an effect, whereas all the other ones do!  Sure, this monster proves good defense, but when it comes to finding cards that support a deck, you have to find the best one:  Big Shield Gardna works well better than D.D. Trainer. 

There are some deck themes that have great support already made for them … namely the Gravekeepers, and water decks.  Ever dueled one of these before?  Not sure how hard they are to defeat now, but years ago, they were known to be pretty rough to handle – and why is that?  The cards supported each other better than other decks.  The water monsters were all water monsters, and their support cards made them effective (Umi, Tornado Wall, etc.), and the Gravekeepers were all gravekeepers, and they also had some effective support cards for themselves (Necrovalley).

Support, support, support – that’s the keyword to building a deck.  Eventually, you’ll learn how to make an effective deck that ultimately supports itself to its max.

Concept of Deck Connection (Some Call this “Synergy”)

I love this metaphor. Your deck is like a rock, and it can either be weak, or it can be strong. How strong it is depends on how much your cards connect, or support, each other – and it also depends how strong your opponent’s deck connects, or supports it self.

Ever had a very very long duel? It might’ve been long because both of your decks had equal connection.

Ever had a very short duel where you were the victor? Chance is: your deck had better connection than your opponent’s.

Ever had a short duel where YOU lost? Your deck was weak, and had low connection – back to the drawing board for you.

If you ever want to enhance the “connection” of your deck, find a dueling partner, and continuously duel them. Whoever loses has to make changes to their deck. The goal is to reach equal connection between you two – and then slowly enhance both decks’ connections as changes are made to the point of where they are at their max. Now duel someone who is of low connection, and bam, a piece of cake! (Well, you’ll most likely be in better shape than you were in.  Winning is always a 50% chance).

I did this type of training with an old friend before. It works.

            The more cards you run in your deck (read: over 40), the weaker the connection.  Why is this?  Half of this game is luck and probability, and by adding more and more cards to your deck, you slowly lower the chance you have of drawing a card, therefore making things slower and weaker, and therefore lowering the “connection” of your deck.

            For some, its hard to go down to ONLY 40 cards – but trust me, it’s definitely better than having any more than 40 in the deck.  Your drawing will be much better due to the higher chances of drawing cards, and your luck will also be at rise.

            Another thing to increase connection and probability is to use deck thinning cards – but don’t use these unless they ALSO help you and support your monsters and other cards.  If they don’t belong with your cards, then don’t use them. I use Nimble Momonga because not only does he give me 1000 LP, but he also thins my deck, and stalls for the rest of my cards.  His effect nor type have anything to do with the majority of my monsters, but as I say: just have things support each other as much as possible.  Sometimes you might have to add in a few odd things here and there, but try to make things support each other as much as possible for the sakes of:  deck connection, and support.

Fat Cards … lose those pounds!

You know your deck has card fat if any of these occurrences have appeared:

·        You drew a bad hand (not speaking ratio)

·        You are drawing bad/useless cards (not speaking ratio)

·        You find yourself waiting for other cards in order to use “something.”

Fat cards are cards that basically slow down your deck and play.  Typically, when one edits their deck, they may look for cards that they never use, or cards that just aren’t working – these cards, in our terminology, are considered “fat.” 

Another type of deck fat may be cards that are:

·        Weakly supported

·        Support other cards weakly

·        “Require” other cards in order to fulfill their effect

Here is a situation that illustrates the idea of “deck fat.”

Can you identify the deck fat in this deck?

Now, just because a card is fat doesn’t mean you can’t put it in your deck.  Some fattening cards can be made less fattening, otherwise some fusion cards and high-level monsters, like the cyber dragons, wouldn’t exist in tournaments!

To make a card less fattening, all you have to do is make its “target” broader.  For example, if your fusion monster requires a certain fusion – run more of those fusion material monsters, and run a lot more of the cards required to fuse them (such as polymerization).  Remember, this game is about probability, and you can strengthen the probability of drawing a certain type of card by running more of those cards, and running more cards like it.

Equip spell cards are automatically low fat because their target is VERY broad (most decks run 18 monsters or more), so usually in the first turn you’ll be able to equip something with the spell.

High-level monsters are automatically lower in fat because they also have a lot of available ways to be summoned.

Ritual monsters?  Notice how they’re not used a lot – well, at the time I am writing this (January 12, 2007), they’re not.  Why is this?  Not enough support to get them out quick enough – therefore, these guys are automatically pretty much deck fat. I will talk more about cards not having enough support in the last section of this document “Words to Card Developers.”

The more speed your deck has, the faster you can get field control, and the faster you may also be able to win.  Think about what you put in your deck – it can make a big difference.  Remember these occurrences, and if you run into any of them in a duel, you need to make a change to your deck:

·        You drew a bad hand (not speaking ratio)

·        You are drawing bad/useless cards (not speaking ratio)

·        You find yourself waiting for other cards in order to use “something.”

Fast Cards

This is exactly the opposite of a fat card.  If this card can be ran instantly, and aids in field control/winning, then this card is considered “fast.”

            Remember the discussion about how making a card more “broad” will make it faster?  Well, we can assume that all fast cards are already ultimately broad, and that idea is correct – here are some naturally fast cards (and also the reason why cards like these are ran so much, aside from how powerful they also tend to be):

            Now, look at this deck, and take note of all the “fast cards” that exists.  It’s the same deck as before, we’re just looking at different cards this round:

Don’t ever be afraid to do the same with your own deck on both deck fat, and fast deck concepts!

Stage I, Deck Pre-Development

            Winners tend to be organized fellas, so in this section, you will learn the three phases of building a deck:  Deck Predevelopment, Deck Development, Deck Redevelopment.

            Every deck starts with an idea.  Try to argue that it doesn’t – every single deck starts in your head as an idea.  In this stage, you will flesh out that idea on file, so you can see if it’s even possible to do before you head out into the real stage: the development stage.

            Make this table on paper, or on the computer.  You’re going to learn to use it:

Or you could write/type:

Central idea:

Supporting Cards:

Global Support:

Whatever works!

Central Idea

This is where you put your idea – that single thought that popped up that will hopefully eventually become a fully fleshed out deck.

There are a lot of ideas: combos, type-oriented, effect-oriented, attribute-oriented … the list goes on.

Whatever your idea is, write it down, and don’t forget it.

            Here are some examples of Central ideas:

·        Water-Attribute

·        Different Dimensional

·        Dragon-type

·        “A deck that simulates a virus, and slowly eats the opponent to death from the inside.”

·        Warrior-type

·        Normal Monsters

·        “A burn deck.”

·        “A deck that has strong-defense monsters, and defeats the opponent from burning.”

·        Whatever you want!

Typically, the more specific, the better.

Supporting Cards

            Now with your idea in mind, it is time to find cards that support the idea.

            In this stage, do not be critical – that part is for the development of your deck.  Allow anything, as lame as the card may seem, slide into your predevelopment deck outline.

            Even if the card is banned in the latest restriction list, allow it in.  The idea of this stage is to see all of the cards that support your idea.

            Now, there are many ways to find out what cards support your ideas, and what doesn’t.  I am going to show the way some beginners, and even advanced folks do it, I’m going to show ancient interesting ways I use to use, and then I’m going to tell the ways I use now, which is much more simple, and easier, and gets much better results!

The Common Way

             When it comes to building a deck, beginners and even advanced duelists will be somewhat disorganized with finding cards that will support their central idea. Here I will talk about the methods I have seen, or have done, and I will talk about why you shouldn’t do any of these following ways.

Oh, that looks cool!

Yes, the card does look cool, and since you REALLY want to run it, you put it in your deck filled with other sweet looking cards.

When it comes to dueling for fun – go for it.  However, if you are dueling to compete, this is an extremely bad mistake that’ll cause you to moan and cry and ask yourself consistently, “Why am I not winning?”

Do not put cards into your deck that do not associate with each other.  The cards in your deck must support each other.

Searching through personal cards

You are limiting yourself, and your deck’s potential, when you limit yourself to the cards you currently own.

Unless you own all the cards in the world, I highly advise to you to not do this. Try using online card databases like “netrep.net”, or Yugioh Virtual Desktop (download at xerocreative.com) to search for cards that’ll go into your deck.

You’ll learn more about how to effectively do this at the “Orthodox Method” section of this article.

If you need to buy cards, then you should buy the cards.  Unless you are playing for fun, if you want to get better at this game, you’re going to have to put in the effort to keep your collection of cards large and updated.

I highly recommend that you build yourself a collection of cards – if you don’t have one already – and keep building and building it.  Your goal is to own all of them.  The greatest duelist will have all of the necessary resources at his disposal.

Guessing

A lot of duelists don’t know what goes in their deck, so they’ll go through their cards, or cards online, and just take whatever might work, and see what happens.

This is unorganized, risky, and dangerous.  If you don’t know why you’re putting in a card, then you need to thoroughly read up on this article, the rules of the game, and tips and ideas from other duelists. 

Being unorganized, and not having a clear understand of why you make ANY choices in this game will be a definite downfall for you. 

Do not forget that.

Copying off another

If everyone copied off another, rather than making their own ideas, would we get anywhere in life?

If you’re going to copy off of someone, then make you sure improve on them.  Take their deck, go to the “Deck Redevelopment” section of this article, and improve upon it.  Most likely, there will be flaws, and I do not want you to live with the faults of another duelist.

It’s always best to simply use their idea, or even better, to simply use your own idea, and build your own deck around that idea – which is what this whole “Pre-development” section is here to help you with.

Remember the Chaos era?   Yes, everyone used the same ideas over and over, and things just got boring – for me, anyways.

Going by someone’s word

“Here, put that in your deck,” says a friend.

“Okay,” you say.

Make sure to ask why.  As I said before, make sure your decisions are rational to you, and that you understand why you are doing what you are doing.

Any many more

There’s probably a lot of other methods people use to build their decks, and I’m sure I’m missing a bunch, but these are just general methods that I can think of that beginners may typically do.  If you advanced duelists don’t do any of these, and are a lot more organized, then good for you. 

Though, I know that there’s some “advanced” duelists out there who actually go by some of the above, so this is just for you as well as any beginners who enter this game.

This article is just here to remind you, or enlighten you, of the simple things that you may have or have not known as you developed as a duelist.  Not everyone knows everything – I’m just typing to you what I have personally learned in my years of dueling.

The Unorthodox Method

            As I said at the beginning of this article, I sucked at dueling.  I wanted to know why I sucked, so I began to think a bit outside of the box to find the reasons. 

            I always used a Kaiba deck, and I used it at tournaments.   This was probably one reason why I sucked, but I wanted to make the deck work, so I had to look at it, religiously, to find out why it sucked.

            Taking the deck apart, and looking at all of my cards, I began to see “connections” – similarities in very odd places – so this began how I first initially began to create my decks.

The 8 Virtues

            I will introduce you to what I call the 8 virtues.  The virtues are:  Title, Picture, Description, Level, Attack, Defense, Type, & Attribute.

            Every monster card has these virtues.  For an example, let’s take the monster card Blue-Eyes White Dragon.

Title:  Blue-Eyes White Dragon

Picture:  White Dragon, Blue Swirley Decoration to the Back

Description: This legendary dragon is a powerful engine of destruction. Virtually invincible, very few have faced this awesome creature and lived to tell the tale.

Level: 8

Attack: 3000

Defense: 2500

Type: Dragon

Attribute: Light

Using the Virtues

            What I would do is I would use Yugioh Virtual Desktop (download at xerocreative.com), and I would search for monster cards that had similar virtues to a card (let’s say that Blue-Eyes White Dragon).  I theorized that the more virtues that a monster card has with the card I’m using, the more closely it “related,” therefore it was “destiny” for the cards to be used together.

            So, obviously, when it comes to the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, the card that relates to it the MOST is … itself.  Going down the line, if you look at the card Chaos Emperor Dragon, you will see that he has a lot of the same virtues:

Attack: 3000

Defense: 2500

Level: 8

Type: Dragon

Picture:  Both have a Dragon

Title: Both have “Dragon” in their title

            It’s like magic!  And I built my deck this way … but I finally found the flaws of doing so.

Why NOT to do this

        First of all, you are only getting Monster cards by using the Unorthodox Method.  No spells or traps have any of these “virtues”, so once you are finished finding all of your monsters using an “unorthodox” technique, you will end up with a countless amount of support cards (read: spells/traps) that you will have to look through.

            Secondly, you are missing out on other monster cards that may actually work extremely well with your deck, and make it stronger than it already is.  For example, I use to put Nimble Momonga in my warrior deck because he provided fantastic defense/stall, and he also gave me a good amount of lifepoints to keep me in the game.

            Third, this technique takes hours, or maybe even days (depends on your stamina) to do.  Want to know why?

            For every virtue, you must conduct a search through a card database to find cards that have that same virtue. Then, you must list them all, which is a necessary component in doing this activity.  Doesn’t seem like that big of a task?

            Search for every “Dragon” type monster, and imagine listing all of them.   Then imagine searching for all monsters with a “Light” attribute, then listing all of THOSE – and doing all of this for all 8 virtues.

            Yes, I was crazy enough to do all of that.  And does doing this activity seem rational at all?  Maybe a little, but … it’s just, as I continuously call it, “unorthodox.”

            Once you have your gigantic list built,  (if cards comes up multiple times, you only list them once), you’d go back through your list, you’d list cards that had all 8 virtues in common, then you’d list cards that had 7 virtues in common, and you’d stop at about mid-way or so, unless you were hardly listing anything.  Listing cards that had 1 or 2 virtues in common was generally pointless.

            The most related cards would generally go into your deck; any extras would be considered, or trashed.  You would then fill in the holes by adding in monsters or support cards that relate to the deck theme, and help the deck run better than it already is.

            I’m going to talk about each virtue and give examples … but again, don’t do any of this unless you’re just crazy enough to try. 

            I’m just telling the users of how I use to do things, so they have an idea of how psycho and desperate I was to get anywhere in this game.

The First Virtue

The first virtue is Title.  (These virtues actually don’t have to go into any particular order, but I just did that for organization).

When you look at monster card titles, sometimes you may find similarities … such as the Gravekeepers all having “Gravekeeper’s” in their name, or the Elemental Heroes all having “Elemental Hero” in their name.

If you have a card and want to find other cards that relate to it, one thing you can do is to take keywords of the title, and search cards that have similar keywords in their name.

For example, if we take our card Blue-Eyes White Dragon (you can take a card you have, and do this same exercise), and separated the searchable keywords, we can search cards that have:  Blue-Eyes, White, and/or Dragon in their name. 

To do this easily, netrep.net and Yugioh Virtual Desktop (download at www.xerocreative.com) both make life extremely effortless!   Use either or (YVD is the best to do all the virtues), then make a list of the cards … monster or not … that you get from searching for each keyword.   (I just quickly typed them all on notepad or something … hand writing is just, slow, unless you can write faster than you can type).

It doesn’t matter how silly or non associated the card is to the Blue-Eyes, or card you are using … just list them.

As you can see, from just a few keywords of the title, you can already find cards that obviously work with what you have in your hand.

Now, the problem with this is – and this is, again, why the unorthodox method is the bad way to go – this not only takes FOREVER (If you searched for “Dragon”, you’d see how much listing you’d have to go through), but it’s also unnecessary.

Nevertheless, keep this in mind as it helps finding “relating” cards easier.

The Second Virtue

The second virtue is Picture.

Earlier in this article I gave an example of how you can take a few cards, look at their pictures, and find similarities between them. 

There are two things that you can look for when you compare card imagines: similarities in design, object association.

The following are examples that I have searched that you can take a look at.

When it comes to finding object association, make sure you look at what is going on with that object.  Sometimes you may find on a card where that “object” is being destroyed, showing that the card is there to destroy cards that are like the object shown.

And of course, by object (if you haven’t already realized), I mean things like a monster, or a symbol (the question mark on a few Magician/luck cards), or a type of character (a spell caster being in a card, or a Dragon).

When it comes to finding similarities in design, as you saw from the last example … this may go on what you see, or this may go on what you “feel.”  Art can be viewed in so many different perspectives, so what may seem similar to you, may not be similar to another.

How do you know if a card truly associates with another by image?  Well, typically, they’ll have more than one virtue in common.  If not, then they just aren’t meant to be.

Let’s use our Blue-Eyes once more so you can see this truly in action.

There’s probably a lot more, but that is what I have found for the Blue-Eyes White Dragon.

As I said before – this stuff is time-consuming.  You’re searching for cards and making multiple lists, and since there are 8 virtues, you are doing this 8 times!  That’s HOURS of work for one deck.

This, aside from its usability, is one MAJOR reason why I strongly urge you to not use these methods for deck building, and to use the methods under “The Orthodox Method.”

The Third Virtue

The third virtue is Description.

Here, you’ll take a look at the description of the card that you are using, and you’ll break up statements, and make a search using each statement that you think you’ll find something with.

Here are some examples:

Let’s use our Blue-Eyes example again for this topic (and again, you can use your own card to test this out).

Interesting, even though the he doesn’t have an effect, you still come across a lot of support for him.

The Fourth Virtue

The fourth virtue is Level. 

All you have to do here is take the exact level of the monster card you are using, and search the database (YVD works best) for any other monsters that have the exact same level, then list them.

Here is an example using the Blue-Eyes White Dragon:

The Fifth Virtue

The fifth virtue is Attack.

When it comes to this virtue, simply make a search and list with all the monsters that has the same attack as the monster you are using.

For example:   

The Sixth Virtue

The sixth virtue is Defense.

When it comes to this virtue, simply make a search and list with all the monsters that has the same defense as the monster you are using.

For example:

The Seventh Virtue

The seventh virtue is Type.

When it comes to this virtue, simply make a search and list with all the monsters that has the same type as the monster you are using.

For example:

The Eighth Virtue

The eighth virtue is Attribute.

When it comes to this virtue, simply make a search and list with all the monsters that has the same attribute as the monster you are using.

For example:

And now that we’re done with this section… please tell me you didn’t do any of that.

The Orthodox Method

All right, if you just read “The Unorthodox Method”, forget everything you just read.  If any of it confused you … that’s okay, because unless you want to just toy around with how I use to find supporting cards for central ideas (as you can see, it took hours), then you will not need any of that knowledge.

            Remember that outline you hopefully made?  Bring it out, and prepare to make a list of cards.

            Go to www.netrep.net, or (even better), download Yugioh Virtual Desktop (xerocreative.com), and prepare to friend whatever source of a large card database that you’re using (things have probably changed, so there may be better ones – ask duelists online!)

Research

Well, it took me long enough to figure out something so obvious.  This is the method most people who have been here long enough use … and it’s just a smack-in-the-face if you actually didn’t use this method.

I only expect the beginners to really learn this, but who knows, there may be some experienced people out there who made their decks in very awkward ways, like my unorthodox method up there.

Using the online card database, research cards that relate/support your central idea … and I mean list all of them.

For organization purposes, and for a list for you to have to continuously look at when it comes to the Redevelopment Phase of your deck, you need to make a list of every card that you can find (regardless if its banned or not).

Look through every set, and … if your deck theme is HEAVILY supported, be prepared to spend a couple of hours at this. (You should be happy if you do this, as the more support your idea has, the more of a chance it probably has on the competitive battle field).  List all monsters, traps, and spells. 

I repeat:  List every card that relates/supports your central idea.

The following is an example:

            Yes, that’s it.  No fancy unorthodox searching here.  It still sucks, but it’s a good thing to do for the development of your deck.

Global Support

            Now, going alllll the way back to the subject of the Predevelopment Outline, the “Global Support” section talks about cards that generally support any deck. 

            These cards are the fastest cards available (go back to “Fast Cards” from earlier for examples), and they will guard or help all of your monsters, rather than specific types.

            These cards are generally restricted/forbidden due to their high speeds … list all the cards that you can think of in this section.  You’ll be using these for years.

Stage II, Deck Development

            Aahhh, the fun part.

            So, here you should have the Central Idea already made, and you should have a list of cards that support it.

            Now, I want to remind you of one thing:  When making a deck for competing, it must be 40 cards. 

            I explained this earlier in the article, but to remind you on the reason:  this game is based on probability aside from skill, and you want all the luck you can get.

            The more cards you have in the deck, the lower the chances you have of getting the essential cards that you need.

The Deck Outline

            Remember, the best duelists are organized!  Draw/type this out somewhere.

Deck Ratio

            By deck ratio, I mean the ratio between Monsters and Support (Spell/Trap) cards.

            The ratio for your deck will depend on how your cards operate, but here is a table that I have made for your general guideline.

            You may even have a deck idea that requires something even outside of this general boundary … but how do you find out which is perfect?  Well, that’s going to take trial and error, which is by actually dueling, and fixing the ratio till you feel everything is perfect.

            You could also do what I call “Shadow Dueling” (a play off of the term Shadow Boxing) and once your deck is finished, you could make fake draws and fake plays to get a general idea of how things would play out, and if your hands could be better with slightly more chance of drawing support, or a slightly higher chance of drawing monsters.

            Anyways, before you make a deck, decide which one of these you think you’ll do best with first.  If you don’t know, then choose 18 Monsters, 22 Support.

Following Regulation

            In this game, there is something called a “Forbidden List.”  Hopefully, with your amazing amount of knowledge on this game (I told you to study!), you already know what it is.

            To see the current list, try http://entertainment.upperdeck.com/yugioh/en/gameplay/forbidden/default.aspx

            Keep the current forbidden list in mind as you create your dueling deck.

The Monsters

            Always start with the monsters, as they’re the main show of the deck.  The spells and the traps are merely there to help them gain control of the field, and to help them do what they are there to do: return victorious!

            I told you about Fat Cards, and I told you about Fast Cards.  This is where we apply our knowledge.

            With your list, if you’re going to add in ANY Tribute monsters, try to keep the minimum to 3.  You do not want a high probability of drawing something that you most likely cannot immediately use – that’s going to make your deck slow, and ineffective.

            Secondly, every time you add a card, ask yourself the following questions:

·        Why am I putting this in?

·        How does this make the deck better?

·        Does this card support my other cards, and my Central Idea?

·        Is there something better/faster that I could put in instead?

Here is an example:

Predevelopment Outline

Development Outline

(For simplicity, I’m following the Traditional Format on this)

            Unless you want to be super organized, you don’t actually have to write out your thought patterns for all 40 cards.  I’m just giving a few examples to make things easier for you.

Axe Dragonuit

·        Why am I putting this in?

o       He is following the Central Idea, he’s a fast level four monster (Fast Card), he is a great offensive monster, and with his effect, he can keep my lifepoints safe.  Also, his high attack can force the opponent to go into defense if used strategically (Art of Mind Control/Art of Field Control).

·        How does this make the deck better?

o       Well, it keeps it moving faster, and I can play him instantly.

·        Does this card support my other cards, and my Central Idea?

o       Yes.

·        Is there something better/faster that I could put in instead?

o       Goblin Attack Force, but he is not a Dragon, so from my current knowledge, not at the moment.

Axe Dragonuit (second)

·        Why am I putting in another one?

o       He is a great offensive monster, and having two of him will increase the probability of drawing him.

Blizzard Dragon

·        Why am I putting this in?

o       He is a great offensive monster, and his effect will aid greatly with field control.

·        How does this make the deck better?

o       It helps me retain field control, and it is fast.

·        Does this card support my other cards, and my Central Idea?

o       Yes.

·        Is there something better/faster that I could put in instead?

o       Not at the moment.

Blizzard Dragon (second)

·        Why am I putting in another one?

o       He is a great offensive monster, and having two of him will increase the probability of drawing him.

Blizzard Dragon (third)

·        Why am I putting in ANOTHER one?

o       Because he is that awesome, and I want him in my hand!

Nimble Mononga

·        Why am I putting this in?