With the extensive use of social media, the landscape of the Kaijudo social world has already differentiated itself from that of Duel Masters by leaps and bounds. During the days of Duel Masters the anonymous writer behind the computer screen, pounding out words in hope that someone, anyone cared to read them was the norm. Now with the likes of Twitter, Facebook and the ungodly behemoth known as Youtube, players of all sorts have found an outlet to more fully express their support for the game they love. In the few short months of Kaijudos’ existence, more words have been spoken and written regarding Kaijudo than Duel Masters had during its entire existence.

It is from that understanding which “From the Vaults of the Kaijudo Masters” is born as a series of articles. These articles are intended to present a series that may function as a primer of sorts. With this I hope that we might more quickly introduce new players to some of the great and passionate content out there. In addition, for those already familiar with said content I hope that I can help bring us a bit closer as a community with new perspectives and understanding regarding those content providers.

The KaijudoChannel is the longest running channel available with a significant amount of both Duel Masters and Kaijudo content. Cory has had a great deal of impact amongst the community and made a name for himself with more followers than any other Kaijudo YouTube vlogger!

           

Stats

Subscribers: 1,127

Views:  174,326

Type of Videos: Matches, Deck Profiles, Card Reviws and News & Commentary.

Web Address: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheKaijudoChannel

JMatthew: So, who are you in real life?

Cory: My name's Cory, a 20 year old living in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. I currently work 40 hours a week as a software developer, so I do not have too much free time on my hands once you factor in work with how many hours I put into my YouTube channel. I've always loved games, especially card games from Pokemon to Yu-Gi-Oh to Duel Masters and finally, now to Kaijudo!


J: Why do you play Kaijudo?

C: Mainly because Duel Masters was the bomb! I only got to play it at the very end of the game and I only had cards that people gave to me. Unfortunately, I was too young then and my parents did not want me to compete at any events (which I don't think there were any nearby and even if there were, I was way too young to know about it).


J: Do you have a favorite card and why?

C: It's so tough to choose a favorite, but considering my favorite animal is the koala, it's kind of hard to not choose Scaradorable of Gloom Hollow. Squeaky's just so adorable and all the different kinds of Scaradorables actually have some pretty great effects!


J: What is your favored play style?

C: I've always been a fan of Control because of the limitless amount of plays you can make and the sheer strength of the deck once you survive into the late game of the duel. It's a very hard archetype to play though and I feel that I have a lot to learn to be a better pilot of those kinds of decks.


J: What made you decide to start your own Kaijudo Channel on YouTube?

C: There are a couple reasons. First of all, I felt that I had enough experience with YouTube in that I can actually maintain a very healthy and fun channel. Secondly, I knew a lot about the success of other card games on YouTube and I felt that making a channel based on a new game would both give me a better chance to get myself known AND to try and get this amazing game more known amongst the TCG community. I still cannot believe how far I have gotten so far and with the way things have been going, I feel that it ended up being a win-win situation for both me and the fans!

J: Many former Duel Masters players have discussed that from a set design perspective, Kaijudo offers a different feel from Duel Masters thanks to increased mana cost to play card, cards designed specifically to interact with a creatures level and so forth. From this set design perspective, where would you like to see the developers of Kaijudo take the game?

C: Excellent question! I am not too surprised at how well-designed the cards are so far with the huge card pool at our disposal. The game is just so much more balanced and you can tell that WotC tried their best to learn from their mistakes with Duel Masters and adapt it into a much more fun, balanced game that is still as skill-intensive as Duel Masters was.

Also, the new concept of level-based effects is absolutely genius! I cannot believe they did not even come up with that kind of effect for the longevity of Duel Masters. Honestly, if they keep things going the way it has been for the past few sets, this game is going to be one heck of a rollercoaster ride! I'm quite curious to see how they tackle multi-civilization cards!

J: Amongst the more outspoken of the community there has been a great deal of concern with regards to how WotC is handling competitive play. At this point, WotCs response seems fearful or create and true competitive play at the risk of "placing one player on the podium above the others. Where do you stand as far as the competitive play issue goes? Does Kaijudo require the serious competitive environment traditionally offered by CCGs or is WotCs vision of a less competitive, more cohesive play environment the way to go?

C: The "podium" issue is, quite honestly, a myth. You can talk to almost any kid out there and ask them, "Would you love to get first place in a tournament?" and their answer would obviously be yes! Now, of course, the real problem at hand is them not making it to the podium and being discouraged not to play anymore because they are not winning. The whole point of games is the obstacles you must overcome to win a game. Sure, you'll lose and you'll lose a lot, but through all those losses, you get more practice and you learn from your possible mistakes.

Let's just compare this to a simple video game. In most games, to beat the game, you must overcome the final boss, but to get there, you must play through a bunch of different levels with a bunch of different obstacles. As you play more and more, you start losing lives and even getting game overs, but that is exactly the point of it all; you must figure out why your are losing lives and overcome these obstacles to eventually take on the final boss and claim victory!

The EXACT same thing applies to Kaijudo, TCGs and any other kind of game for that matter! You will face tons of different players of many different ages (who will not all be 8-12 year old, let's be honest here) with many different kinds of decks and by playing all these games, you pick up how cards work and their strengths/weaknesses. From there, you learn how to make a stronger and stronger deck and eventually, you become an efficient duelist and have much better chances to win than you did when you first started.

With all that being said, Kaijudo NEEDS the competitive environment for the game to stay alive and come next year, once the game has been out for a good year and the cards are in the hands of a bigger amount of people (whether they are in the target audience or not), WotC will be a lot more comfortable to agree on setting up organized play.