Hey everyone, 'tis I, WiCkEd and the staff! OK, so basically summing this up, it is a series of questions by me to the staff on the state of the metagame and various other issues. Also, a note to anyone who reads my column, I'll be gone the rest of this week and next, keep sending in decks but I won't be able to do any articles for you all. Sorry. = /. Anyways, without further ado, onto the article! Enjoy everyone. = )

Q. Sand Trap, how could Upper Deck/Konami improve the tournament scene? What are some other things Konami/Upper Deck could do to make the tournament scene more diverse? And lastly, where do you see the game going in late '05 and '06?

A key improvement in the tournament scene would be a drastic change in the Ban List. Taking key cards such as Pot of Greed, Graceful Charity, Delinquent Duo, Sinister Serpent, Sangan, Tribe-Infecting Virus, and Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning out of the tournament scene would hopefully bring more life into the game. In my opinion, the game should not be a race to getting the Trinity first. I also wish there could be a better benefit to going second other than being the first to attack. I believe that choosing to go first or second should depend on your deck and your strategy, but with the current Advanced Format, going first is always the choice unless going into Sudden Death.

Another way to improve the tournament scene would be to help other deck types emerge into the metagame by creating actual “good” cards to start new themes or to strengthen old themes that aren’t often seen. For example, Tyranno Infinity from CRV is a great card for a Dinosaur-based deck. However, there are no other “good” Dinos to complement Tyranno Infinity, so it’d be very hard to make a competitive Dinosaur deck.  There needs to be a point to having a certain deck, so that the deck has more synergy. For example, a Warrior deck has Reinforcement of the Army; a Fairy deck has Mudora. Every type of monster should have similar synergistic cards.

The future could be bleak or could be great. If UDE/Konami moves in the right direction, then I have high hopes for the game and will continue to play the game. However, if they do not address current problems and continue to ignore them, more and more players will stop playing the game.

Q. R.J. the game's decks have all been turned into Chaos since the release of Invasion of Chaos. What would you do to change this? Do you feel the decks would stray in the direction of a new cookie cutter, or would they find separate types? More than that how do you feel that we aren't up to par with Japan's cardpool?

To change the UNoriginality in the game(The state it is in now ;P), I would first modify the Banned and Restricted list, something like this

NEW Banned List:
Forbidden Cards
You cannot use these cards in your Deck or Side Deck:

Butterfly Dagger - Elma
Change of Heart
Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End
Dark Hole
Fiber Jar
Harpie's Feather Duster
Imperial Order
Magical Scientist
Makyura the Destructor
Mirage of Nightmare
Monster Reborn
Raigeki
The Forceful Sentry
Witch of the Black Forest
Yata-Garasu
Black Luster Soldier - Envoy Of The Beginning
Delinquent Duo

NEW! - Black Luster Soldier - Envoy Of The Beginning, Delinquent Duo.

The NEW Restricted List:

Limited Cards

You can ONLY use one of the following cards in the Deck & Side Deck combined:

Breaker the Magical Warrior
Call of the Haunted
Card Destruction
Ceasefire
Confiscation
Cyber Jar
D. D. Warrior Lady
Dark Magician of Chaos
Deck Devastation Virus
Exiled Force
Exodia the Forbidden One
Graceful Charity
Heavy Storm
Injection Fairy Lily
Jinzo
Left Arm of the Forbidden One
Left Leg of the Forbidden One
Lightning Vortex
Mage Power
Magic Cylinder
Mirror Force
Morphing Jar
Mystical Space Typhoon
Painful Choice
Pot of Greed
Premature Burial
Protector of the Sanctuary
Reckless Greed
Reflect Bounder
Right Arm of the Forbidden One
Right Leg of the Forbidden One
Ring of Destruction
Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys
Sangan
Sinister Serpent
Snatch Steal
Swords of Revealing Light
Torrential Tribute
Tribe-Infecting Virus
Twin-Headed Behemoth
United We Stand

NEW! - Painful Choice, Confiscation.

Basically, I banned BLS-EOTB and Delinquent Duo. I left Graceful Charity, with it still in the game, a few more original decks can prosper, Exodia, and Combo decks, to name a few. I Unrestricted Painful Choice and Confiscation. Confiscation is one of my favorite cards in the game, and Painful Choice is a great card that I hesitated bringing back, but I don't think it will hurt that much :). I didn't make any other changes to the list, and left the Semi Restriction List alone.

I have another idea besides Fixing the banned/restricted list. I think it would be a better idea to leave the banned list in effect not for 6 months, but a whole year =/.

It may sound crazy, but I don't think it is crazy at all. With it staying in effect for a full 12 months, we don't have to hassle with getting used to a new list every 6 months. It doesn't take to long to get the full gist of a new format, but once you MASTER it, its almost April/October and that one gets thrown away :). You are now back where you are started, how does it feel?

The last thing, just give the people what they ask for. Bring cards like Shrink, Igzarion Universe, and other popular OCG cards to the TCG. I know what your doing, your going to wait until you feel that game is dying out and then release the good cards. Don't screw around, get them to us, now. :).

Also, I think its kinda unfair for Japan to have cards the rest of us don't, my reasoning is, with some cards, you learn to play the game differently, you learn new tricks, not only for the card, but for the game. I don't know, to me, it seems that it would be possible to learn new dimensions to the game with a larger card pool, and with their card pool being...larger then ours, we don't learn those dimensions. That's unfair :).

Well, this is my opinion, I did it for WickEd, I hope you liked my Input.

 

Q. DeathJester do you feel the judges have been cracking down over needless conflicts? More so, should judges at official events be more weary of suspicious activity? How do you feel on these subjects?

I'm a Level 2 Judge in this game, and I don't feel that the judges are cracking down on meaningless conflicts really. However, I do disagree with biased opinions against certain players in a tournament due to past meetings, penalties, or whatever reason. We as Judges must remember that we have the power to do MANY things in a tournament setting, but that doens't give us the right to single out certain players because we may dislike them a bit. Not only is this unfair, but it's just childish and immoral.

When I talk about biased opinions and calls against certain players, I speak of the situation with Roy St. Clair at Origins. There's no need to ban a player from the game on mere speculation with little proof at all. If you don't like the guy, then you don't like the guy. That's YOUR problem and not his. Why look for any excuse to get him into trouble? Or any player for that matter. We may have power as Judges to whatever we may please, but this does not mean we should abuse it to fulfill our personal vengeances against certain people.

Being weary of suspicious activity is fine. The quality Judges do a great job at that. I would really prefer if more Judges were up to date about every nuance and card ruling in the game. It's your responsibility to make a good call. If you have any doubts...consult the Head Judge and save yourself the trouble of ruining someone's game.

Q. JaeLove, do you feel Shonen Jump Tournaments are doing a good enough job keeping the competitive player satisfied? If not, what are some ideas you would like to see Upper Deck/Konami do to improve the SJCs?

I think they're a step in the right direction, but more prize support is needed. It seems criminal to me that placing 4th, 3rd, or 2nd at 400 player tournaments with 8,000 dollars of total prize money only wins a 250 dollar PSP or 400 dollar I-Pod. In fact, that type of prize structure seems ludicrous, and seems to have swayed a lot of loyal Yugioh players to Marvel VS (which is what UDE might want!). This turns SJC's into regional phenomenons, since all but the very best players can't fly out to farther events because the prizes are so small.

Q. Ryoga, do you feel the card game has enough strategy, or is there room for more? If you feel there is room for more, please explain why. Also, do you feel your puzzles are opening the mind to new ideas in the mindset of competitive and casual players alike?

A. There is quite a lot of strategy in the game at the moment, there is just little reason to use it. The way to win at the moment is to have more cards than your opponent. The various other strategies are just thrown by the side and only really used in casual play. I just don't think this is the way a game should work. There should be more than one successful strategy. We need to slow down Control cards enough to allow other strategies to work. A game in which you only have two cards to use because of Delinquent Duo is not about strategy; it is about luck. I thought they banned FTKdecks to stop games being about luck. I think there is still room to add more strategy, both to the cards and to decks, but Konami is going about inspiring it in the wrong way. We don't want more cards that work only for a specific deck (ie.Harpie's Hunting Ground), nor do we need cards that create new decks (ie. Ben Kei), nor almighty Cards of Doom (ie. CED). What this game needs is another set like MRD, LOD, and IOC that contains cards of all rarities that any player can use for any strategy. We need more tech cards! (Things that help other cards do their job better.) Also, why do only Warriors get all of the tech cards? Give some other type a break and let them tech too!

As to my puzzles opening people's minds to new playing styles, I don't think they are yet. They do seem to show people the power that some cards have and I've probably spawned a few decks in the last year, but I don't seem to have changed the playing style of my readers. Mostly, the answers I get are people using cards on their own. They rarely use synergie to find a solution. Once a duelists sees the power that cards have when used together, they can see the point I'm trying to make in my puzzles.

Q. Ace of Spades, how do you feel on the re-release on many old cards? Do you feel its keep gamers attached or is it driving them away?

As far as I'm concerned, re-releasing older cards is one of the best ways to keep the game alive. It allows constant oppurtunities for new players; and with new players come new concepts, decks and general ideas about the game. At the current rate of set release, it's close to impossible for new players to get cought up. Granted, it's slightly better than during the older days when a set came out every month and a half.

For every player that gripes about cards becoming easier-to-get, there are five other players strengthening their decks and entering into competetive playing because all of the staples are in greater abundance. I remember back when I was starting out, I didn't get my Raigeki (a staple at the time) until Legacy of Darkness had been released. Now all I would have to do is buy some packs from Dark Beginnings and I'm bound to come across it or something to trade for it, because other players will now have more duplicates to trade.

New players can only help the game, rather they succeed or not. Because in the end, it doesn't matter if players are doing well, as long as Konami and Upper Deck get their money so they can continue to support the game. If somebody wants to quit because their formerly-rare cards are going to be used by more people, they're better off leaving the game. Card reprints may not have that "rarity" factor all you kids are into, but the game continues as long as the cards are put out.

Q. ExMinionofDarkness do you feel the commonizing of cards will affect the prices of the game majorly? More so, do you feel that Shonen Jump Tournament exclusive cards should be as high priced as they are (i.e 24,000$ for Cyber-Stein)?

A. Commonization of the major cards will bring down the aftermarket for these quite a bit...specifically on the Tournament Pack cards. I anticipate a drop of about 30-50% on the original versions (TP2 Jar down to 80-90, TP4 Jar down to 50, TP3 Worm down to 100, TP5 Worm down to 40, TP4 Decree to 100 at most, TP6 Decree to 50-60.) However, I still think the prices on the common/normal rare versions from DB2 will go much higher than they should (some sellers could possibly try to get $5 for common Needle Worms/Mechchasers, and $10-20 for DB1 Morphing Jar). If you don't believe me, go and check how much DB1 Exodia arms and legs are eBaying for -- you'd be suprised!

As for the Shonen Jump card sales, I think they need to do MORE for their players. I'm sorry, but when a team like Comic Odyssey spends a couple thousand dollars to get all of their players to an event, and barely break even -- IF they win the event -- there's an injustice that needs to be fixed.

Vs. System gives cash prizes, up to $40,000 for the big events. If Upper Deck can't be bothered to give $40,000 to its Yu-Gi-Oh elite, then they should at least provide a card that'll go for $40,000. Release extremely broken cards, legalize them, and NEVER re-release them in any other form -- make it so ONLY the SJC winners will have these. Stuff like:

"Pay 2000 life points, your opponent discards cards from their hand"

"Draw 3 cards"

"Search your deck for one Black Luster Soldier -- Envoy of the Beginning and add it to your hand. Shuffle your deck afterward."

Stuff like THAT would fetch $40,000 on eBay. Or at the very least, PROMISE to NEVER re-release the Shonen Jump card in any other form, even if it's not a great card. That way, it still holds its value.

In short -- commonization = good for player, bad for the store owner that doesn't know how to deal with it. Shonen Jump card values are too LOW.

Q. Dark Paladin if you could speculate on where the game is going, what would it be? Do you feel the game is spanning out to others more than it used to, or is it dividing and breaking down only showing itself to elite players?

A. Currently, I believe the game is going in a downward spiral. Customers, potential and dedicated a like are hanging by a thread. Konami and UDE need to do things to help grasp and attract new players while trying to keep the veterans interested. Perhaps by releasing cards (possibly as promos) that they KNOW we want (Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon for example.)

The game seems to be shutting down and ONLY focusing on the elite players with such things as the Advanced Format. Of course it is a challenge yet we were left Traditional format for those who preferred it and those new players. I
don't believe enough is being done to grasp attention of new players.

For my final thought, I believe that this is a very rocky/shaky time for Konami and UDE. The majority of people were so upset about the last update of the Ban List and how it accomplished little. The next Ban List update (come October)
will be critical in gaining and maintaining customer support. The next list better do something to please the majority who simply "stood by" last time to support the game.

             Well, that concludes the article, hope you all loved it. This is from us to you and we sincerly hope you enjoyed it. The staff is honored to work for you all, we'd love some positive feedback and creative critizism. Laterz guys!

                                                                                                            -WiCkEd & The Staff

All questions collaborated by: WiCkEd

All answer from: The Staff whom responded to my e-mail.

You can find us all on...www.pojo.com