Subject: Not necessarily news, but an article...

Below is an article I wrote, dealing with the ever-changing face of Duel Monsters. Granted 
it's nearly two in the morning when I came up with this, but here goes. If you feel it's 
worthy of being on your site, feel free to upload it.



Interludes and Examinations: #1

The following will be a sort of guideline to the ever-changing face of Duel Monsters. 

Staples. What makes a card a staple? Basically a staple is a card that has an overwhelmingly 
helpful effect. Over the past year, some Japanese staples have come and gone. With the release 
of each new set comes new cards, with new abilities.
Along with that, new decks are designed and older ones are sometime forgotten. 

New Ruler introduced the first set to have more then 2 Ultimate Rares as well as more then 2 
Secret Rares. Now, this discussion isn't about card rarity, but this is yet another way Series 3 
changed the game. More noticeably, New Ruler was the first Japanese expansion to use the World-Wide 
Standard card design, leaving the old design behind. Each set brought a new style to the game. New 
Ruler introduced the new card design as well as quite a few Malik themed cards. Advent of Union 
introduced the new Union-Type monsters to the game. Champion of Black Magicians brought us Magic 
Counters and the ever popular, Magical-Warrior Breaker. Power of Guardians gave us the new Guardian 
Type combo, along with the Infinite Draw Combo. Threat of the Demon World gave Japanese players 
the ever-menacing, Dark Master: Zork.
It also pioneered the the first re-make of an older card with an effect, Lightning Summoned Skull.
Chaos Ruler came with the most broken card to date, the Chaos Emperor Dragon. Invader of Darkness 
breathed new life into the Water and Dinosaur sub-types. Sanctuary of the Sky also continues this 
trend, focusing on the Angel and Machine sub-types. Even an older staple gets a new equip card 
from this set. 

The next Japanese set is a little under 3 months away, and at this point no one knows what new 
staples possibly awaits us? As I said earlier, with each new set, comes a change in the game. 
Cards like Forced Transfer, Initiate Troops and Spear Dragon, that many people used in their decks, 
were replaced by the likes of Breaker, Reflect Bounder and Dimensional Warrior Girl to name a few. 
Even cards like Injection Angel Lily and Yatagarasu have been seen less and less in Japanese decks 
as of late. Hand-D has been replaced by Chaos as the meta-game. Perhaps we may see a revival of 
some of the former Series 2 staples, only time can tell.
When 309 is released, who knows what may be next to go...

                                                      
                             ...till we meet again, Bass and Treble

Feel free to mail any feedback to visershock@hotmail.com

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