Okay, people.  Listen to me.  I have heard enough.  Having been constantly bombarded by bad/misguided/overstated/just plain malicious tips, I decided to try and find a way to stop this.  The main problem, as I see it, is a decided lack of definition as to what, exactly, qualifies as a 'combo'.  A good example I heard is "if you put Just Desserts in your deck, wait for the opponent to play Scapegoat, then activate Just Desserts and blast him!"  Or, more accurately, "if u put justdeserts n ur dek wate fr the oponent 2 play scapgot then play justdeserts and blast im!"  Now, how many people managed to unravel that last statement?  I can't understand it, and I wrote it!  Please, people, use spellcheck!  No one's going to know!  It won't embarrass you, honest!  And it's more embarrassing to have someone write you to find out what you wrote in your tip.  Anyway, back to the subject.  Taking the above Just Desserts 'combo' as an example, someone tell me whether it classifies as a COMBO or a REACTION.  Anybody?  No?  Dang.  Oooookaaay, time to get long-winded.  The answer, my good gamers, is that playing Just Desserts against your opponent's Scapegoat is a REACTION.  REACTIONS are different from COMBOS in the fact that they can't be played with just the cards in your deck.  Let's say you pack your deck with three Just Desserts, just to play your 'combo' against Scapegoat.  Then when you get to your matches, you find out that your opponent has grown a brain, realized that Scapegoat is useless outside Cannon Soldier Burns, and removed them from his deck (alright, no dirty mails about hating Scapegoat.  My opinions are my own.  Why would anyone want to clutter their monster zones with absolutely useless little legs of lamb?  I, personally, prefer monsters that can actually do something.  Gee, imagine that).  Oops!  Now all those Just Desserts are semi-useless.  That's because you can't force your opponent to play Scapegoat.  On the other hand, a Depletion-type deck can make a good COMBO out of Just Desserts, by combining (Combine: the root word for COMBO.  I stayed awake during Language, and learned how to spell!) Just Desserts with the Spear Cretins and Shallow Graves that the deck normally runs.  That's a COMBO, since it uses only cards that you, yourself, play.  Want more examples?  Here they are:

 

Weather Report + Opposing SoRL = (bad) REACTION

Weather Report + Own SoRL = (bad) COMBO

Snatch Steal + Opposing Monster (use for Tribute) = REACTION

Cyber Jar + Card Destruction = COMBO

Anti Raigeki + Opposing Raigeki = (really bad) REACTION

 

Did anyone notice a common word to all the REACTIONS?  Yep.  Opposing.  Meaning your opponent's card.  Meaning you (most likely) didn't put it there.  Now, to forstall arguments of "Everybody plays SoRL!  That Weather Report thing is cool!" (or any other person arguing their favorite reaction/bad combo listed above), I say this: you just can't count on it.  For instance, I, myself, don't play Swords, and not because I don't have one.  I've had one three times now, and traded all of them.  My deck's Gravity Bind and Mirror Force are enough protective M/T cards, Swords was just redundant.  And no, it's not a Clown deck.  There are other uses for G-Bind, you know.  And for anyone who still loves their Weather Report deck, and feels that I'm just a misguided fluke (say it to my computer screen.  See what you get), remember that a deck built on REACTIONS needs to have something to react to.  An example (albeit, a bad one) is my friend's Depletion (Deckout) deck.  This deck classes as a REACTIVE based deck, and is positively evil against the forty-card Beatdowns that flood every tournament.  However, a newbie coming to the tournament with his bad, misguided, 85-card deck is likely to beat the nasty Depletion deck, simply by out-lasting it.  Morphing Jar 2 only goes so far.  Whereas my brother's funky Beatdown has no such problems.  So, the next time you feel like posting 'Imperial Order is a great combo card!  It shuts out the opponent's Equip Cards, and makes them suicide!  Awesome combo!", remember that most people know that, don't need to see it again, and might blast you for wasting their time with a not-COMBO.

 

Got Questions?  Feel Like Harrassing Me?  Get me at Arcane_Draconum@hotmail.com.  I'll respond to most anything, save pleas for deck help, but if you burn me, expect a thrashing like you wouldn't believe.