Subject: Decks, Duels, and Advice - Severious

This is my first tip for Pojo's. Many thanks to the staff for printing it.

Deck Building:
Unlike most people, I view deck building as an art, not a science. You just can't put all the 
cards together and have a winning deck. It just doesn't work that way. Here are some of the 
not-so-obvious essentials that go into building a deck.

1. Know Your Theme. A strong theme requires strong support cards. A Necrofear deck just won't 
work without fiends, and not just any fiends will do. In fact, any good Necrofear player will 
tell you that a fiend-only deck will lose more often than win. Why? Support. A Necrofear deck 
running 60% fiends and 40% non-fiend supports has greater speed and versatility, a must for a 
this type of deck, which tends to be slow. A Necrofear deck at 100% fiends can't counter 
beatdowns and control decks effectively, nor will it provide the speed needed to win. You'll 
find yourself praying for the one card you need rather than having it at hand or on the field.

2. Know Your Theme. Or, rather, know your theme's weaknesses. Make certain that your support 
cards shore up any weaknesses your type of deck has. 
FINAL decks are susceptible to spell/trap removal. If you're running this type of deck, you 
want to make certain that you have plenty of recursion cards to recover any lost FINAL cards. 
This may seem obvious, but how many times have you lost a duel because you focused on 
strengthening your killer combo rather than fortifying your defenses in case the combo 
never occurred? In fact, how many times has your combo been rendered useless and you had 
no backup plan? Your deck is only as strong as your weakest card.

3. Duel, Duel, Duel. The only way to truly discover your potential weaknesses is through 
dueling. This, again, is very obvious. You can strengthen your deck tenfold by paying attention 
to how you're losing. Are you not getting your monsters out quick enough? Are you getting 
pounded by spells? Are your monsters too strong, too weak? Are traps decimating you before 
you even start? A 6-star beatstick is nothing when surrounded by 5-, 7-, and 8-star monsters. 
Smaller effect monsters can be summoned quicker if you use searchers or battle summoners 
(Tomato, Grizzley, Rat, etc.). 
Remember, you don't just lose because you have no luck at drawing. You lose because you 
aren't paying attention when you put your deck together. Pay attention to what's hurting 
you in your deck. You may love Relinquished, but it may not fit your theme; it may not fit 
your style of play (fast, slow); or it may not be supported properly (only one ritual and 
ritual monster, no Senjus or Sonic Birds, etc.).

Dueling:
I also happen to think that you lose a duel before you even start. There are several things 
you need to consider before you duel: know yourself, know your opponent, know your environment.

1. Know Thyself (know your deck). Understand your deck's strengths and weaknesses. Play to 
your strengths and mask your weaknesses. If you've built your deck correctly, you should be 
able to control the duel so that your opponent is always on the defensive. You should have 
know all possible combos with your deck and nail them regularly.

2. Know Your Opponent (know your side deck). Does your opponent like control? Beatdown? 
Decking? Exodia? You may not know the ins and outs of your opponent's deck, but you should 
be familiar enough with your opponent that you know the type of deck he/she runs and how to 
counter that deck without disrupting your deck. If your opponent likes Exodia, make certain 
you have hand disruptors to side deck in. If you go up against a beatdown running straight 
Goblins, Orcs, Geminis, and Spear Dragons (among others), make sure you've got your Wabokus, 
Book of Moons, and other monster stoppers handy.
Also, know how your opponent duels. Does he/she rush in and attack immediately? Does he/she 
wait and feel out your strategy before placing cacrds down? Does he/she overthink, allowing 
you to bluff more than you normally would?

3. Know your Environment (know your meta-game). The Boy Scouts say "Be Prepared," and I 
agree. Know what you're getting into before you duel. Talk to other duelists and find out 
how they duel. Find out what types of decks they like to run. Find out who they think is 
the best duelist in the center. The more you understand the duelists around you, the better 
chance you have of winning the tournament. In my earliest tournament win, I realized that 
everyone I played against ran spell-heavy decks with little M/T removal, so I played Imperial 
order, 3 Magic Drains, 3 Magic Jammers, 2 Solemn Judgements, and 2 Seven Tools. By countering 
all of my opponents moves and playing high defense monsters, I was able to whittle away their 
life points and win.

Basically, if you know any one of the three parts, your chances of success are good. If you 
know two of three, your chances of success are great. If you know all three, you will win each 
time out.

Advice:
Any advice, no matter what the source, needs to be taken with a grain of salt. No one person 
knows the complete ins and outs of this game. I help people build their decks so that I can 
see what they play. I try and make their decks better, but at the same time I'm formulating 
the counter deck to combat theirs.

Sometimes the best winners are the poorest teachers, and the poorest losers (first rounders) 
are the best instructors. It works this way because people who win matches have forgotten 
the earlier steps it took to get where they are. Continual losers, however, understand the 
process new people will go through and can instruct them better.

Deck fixers may seem like they know what they're talking about, but nine times out of ten 
they're thinking, "This isn't how I would build this deck." Sometimes so-called fixers are 
just spouting the names of their favorite cards to use. That's why their fixes always sound 
the same for any type of deck. Unless they are from your dueling center, they generally have 
no idea of the type of environment you duel in. How can they possibly help your meta-game 
when they only see a deck?

Finally, If you're having trouble getting started, read the message boards for deck ideas 
and deck construction. If you can't find the cards you need at your local shop, check the 
fine card dealers whose ads surround the website. Information, not advice, is the key to 
winning. The right cards, however, help immensely. So my (useless) advice from all of this: 
study, study, study.

Hope I've helped. Emails are welcome, email Severious@aol.com.
Severious