Subject: Was this wrong?... A Semi-Rant --Kyoichi Saiyonji

wartortle:  This isn't really a tip, but a good read.

I did something bad yesterday...

I crushed a duelist's spirit, destroyed his morale, and left him a mental 
mess, all in the course of three games...

Perhaps the fact that I don't refer to him as a "fellow" duelist had to do 
with his attitude...

Or maybe it had to do with the cards he was using...

Maybe he just had it coming...

Yes, I think that last describes the situation best...

Whatever the reason, I left the card shop in the highest of spirits, secure 
in the knowledge that I had taken another duelist that had no idea what he 
was doing to school.

Here's what happened... would you have done the same thing?

I was in Douglasville, GA, visiting my fiancee and moving some stuff into 
our new house, and I had some free time before she got off work.  I stopped 
into the Game Keeper at Arbor Place Mall and chatted with a salesperson I 
know who works there.  He offered to show me his collection of cards he had 
for sale, and I flipped through, looking for good stuff.  He had plenty, 
but he wasn't willing to sell any Metal Raiders stuff he didn't have 
duplicates of, owing to the fact that he only needed Sanga of the Thunder 
to get a complete set.  Once he got that, he'd sell the complete set as a 
whole.  While I was looking, someone else the sales guy knew who was a 
regular at their tourneys offered to show me his stuff.  He offered me a 
Dark Necrofear and Mirror Force together for only $45.  I thought it was a 
pretty good deal, so I ventured "Will you take a check?"  His basic 
response was "ATM's upstairs.  Don't know you,so why should I trust 
you?"  I started to feel a bit insulted... after all, if the check was bad, 
I was the one who would get stung by it.  Instead of paying $45, I would 
have to pay at least $75, if not more, to cover both the check and the NSF 
fees!  I mean, I understand wanting to take care of your cards, but use a 
little common sense, here!  The upshot of it all was I left the store, went 
upstairs to a shop that sells singles for fairly good prices, and got a 
Raigeki for $18... not bad considering I was about to buy one at another 
mall for $25.

I still had some time before I had to go meet my fiancee, and my dueling 
deck was in the car, so I decided to add my new Raigeki (my first, by the 
way) to my deck.  That's when it hit me...  last time I dueled here, 
several months ago, I got my butt handed to me.  Since then, I have 
constructed a new deck that I have constantly been improving on, and am 
quite proud of.  It's helped me acquire lots of points this tournament 
season, and has put me just outside of 1st place in my store.  I figured 
that since I would soon be moving here, it was time to test my baby against 
the best that this location had to offer.  At first glance, this guy seemed 
like he knew what he was doing.  He had lots of rares, and more than a few 
tourney pack cards, some from last season.  I figured that the worst thing 
that could happen is that I would lose, but at least I would learn about 
the metagame of this area, and be able to adjust my deck accordingly.  I 
pulled a Nobleman of Crossout to make room for the Raigeki, and walked back 
inside the mall and headed to the Game Keeper.  The guy was sitting at the 
tables in the back, filling out some forms.  I set my deck on the table and 
casually offered a match.  His response?  "Sure, but let me see what's in 
your deck."  To be nice, I let him, but he didn't offer to let me look 
through his...  Now, I was REALLY insulted... Was this the way all the 
players here did things?  Look through an opponent's deck beforehand so 
that you'll know just what to expect?  Where's the fun in that?  He didn't 
help the situation much with his next statement:  "Sure, I'll duel that 
deck (THAT DECK?!?), but only if you'll let me put in three "special" cards 
in mine."  At this point, I was bound and determined that if I didn't win, 
at least I would give this guy a run for his money like he'd never had 
before!  So, I agreed, and after we shuffled and cut, I found out what the 
three cards were when we cut to see who went first.  On my cut, I got a 
Black Illusion Ritual, and on his, he got Obelisk...

Ugh...

This guy was actually playing with God cards...
(To find out my feelings on the God cards, see my article from the previous 
month.  I'll sum it up in two words... THEY'RE CRAP!!!)

Maybe "the best this location has to offer" was a bit of an overstatement...

Actually, it was one HELL of an overstatement...

This guy was certainly proud of his gods...  He was convinced that he had 
THE actual rulings on the cards as to how they were played, and would 
absolutely not believe that they are now, always have been, and always will 
be BANNED from tournament and serious play.

Man, I was SO itching to prove this guy wrong...

And I did...

We played 3 games...

I won them all...

Very handily...

And not once...

Not ONCE...did Obelisk, Slifer, or Ra peek their ugly heads onto the 
playing field...

Darn...

I really, REALLY wanted to suck one of those babies into Relinquished and 
pound him over the head with his own god...

The guy didn't even know the rules that well...

He played Change of Heart on my Relinquished with his face-down Magician of 
Faith attached, and tried to flip summon the MoF!!

He didn't understand that I could Chain Dust Tornado to his MST targeting 
my DT to destroy his Swords of Revealing Light!!

He was basically a newbie in playing level, and it was my extreme pleasure 
to take this insulting, condescending, god-card-playing 40-year-old newbie 
to the woodshed and pound him into nothing...

To further prove his arrogance, after my first win, he said "Okay, you 
lost, so you can go first."  I merely looked up and said "Ahem... uh... you 
lost!"  His response:  "Oh, sorry... I'm just so used to winning that it's 
a habit."

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight...

Needless to say, I left the store very pleased, and very, very proud of my 
deck.

So, fellow duelists, I ask you... had you been in my shoes, what would you 
have done?

I think the point of this article is this... there's karma in dueling.  If 
you're a kind, polite, fun-loving duelist who's a good loser AND a good 
winner, everyone's going to like playing with you, win or lose.  BUT, if 
you're irritating, condescending, a poor sport, win or lose, and you insist 
on playing with the god cards, there's always going to be someone like me 
gunning to knock you down a few pegs.

And we'll do it, make no mistake...

We won't gloat when we win, either.  That's being a poor sport.  That's 
descending to your level.

We'll simply thank you for the duel, pick up our cards, and leave you to 
stew in your own juices, and in your own defeat...

Oh, yeah,  and we'll make sure there's a BIG crowd around to see it, too!

So, BE NICE!!!

or, watch out...

                                                     -Kyoichi Saiyonji