The Difference Between Fact/Opinion/Theory/Bias/Play Testing In DM

- Destroyer

Everyone always wants the cards, strategies, and combos that will make a big

impact on their gameplay. It's a fact in every TCG game. However, when it 
comes down to the nitty-gritty, it's all based on personal 
biases/theory/personal opinion/play testing.

If someone comes to you and says "Aqua Vehicle is the best card on Earth," 
of course you'd disagree. Or would you? Personal biases are no fact, but 
more of an opinion-based theory.

Although I can't prove cards to be great or not-so-great, I can provide my 
personal opinion on them.

Holy Awe - This card was used on the show, and caused Shobu to lose a duel. 
A good card? I have no definite answer. The reason is because I don't really

care for tapping, but I'm not about to throw it out of my deck either. It 
varies on gameplay and each individual's personal preference.

Terror Pit - A good card? Possibly. I personally don't run Darkness, so I 
would tend to say maybe because I have no experience with it. Looking at 
pure stats, it can help dramatically, but can also be too much of a cost to 
be useful when acquired too early.

Candy Drop - Ah, the ever-debatable unblockables. I personally use them and 
say yes, this is a good card. But once again, personal bias/opinion contrary

to mine comes in. Once again, both points are perfectly valid.

To sum up the point I've been trying to make in the above statements, all 
cards can perform OK to excellent, but it's based on people's opinions and 
not fact.

Although play testing helps provide more physical evidence and statistics to

observe, there are in infinite amount of variables involved, making it too 
unreliable to be completely factual. Variables would include deck size, the 
contents of each player's hands, how well the decks were shuffled, what cards 
are in the shield zone, which civilizations are used in 
combination/alone/against each other, each duelist's experience/level of 
strategic comprehension, etc. As each variable comes into play, the "facts" 
become more and more subject to chance, which provides inconsistent results,

thus making the information unfit for proving something to be "fact."

In conclusion, it is ESSENTIAL for any duelist to have the knowledge and 
ability to distinguish
between fact and theory/opinion/bias/play testing. Otherwise we'll end up 
with "pure Beatdown" decks for Duel Masters, just like with Yu-Gi-Oh. And we

all know Yu-Gi-Oh's going to die out because of not enough diversity among 
"top tier", tournament-winning decks. Let's not let the same happen to Duel 
Masters.

If anyone has any comments or suggestions, please feel free to e-mail me at:

destroyer_dw@hotmail.com

Also, I own a Duel Masters website, so if you want tons of Duel Masters 
stuff go to www.dmprofile.com

Destroyer