Subject: Mind Games- Evilsbane

Hey all,
Anyone who's ever played poker will agree that the ability to bluff is 
ESSENTIAL if you want to do well in that game at all. Well, although not as 
central to the game of Yu-Gi-Oh, mind games still play an important role in 
it. My suggestion is to master the game of poker before bothering to read 
anything else I'm about to write.

1-The Bluff: The ability to work out what your opponent is afraid of is 
central to bluffing. If your opponent has a lot of powerful monsters on the 
field, the cards they're probably worried you'll play are things like 
Raigeki, Dark Hole, Mirror Force etc. Make sure you play on these fears. 
The cards I've named usually have holofoil pictures(unless you're using a 
starter deck Dark Hole). So, very casually, tilt one of the Spell or Trap 
cards(hereafter referred to as S/T cards) in your hand around like you're 
trying to catch the light with it and stare at the pretty holofoil colours. 
Then set it.
      This is where the mastery of poker and bluffing comes in, because if 
you're a ham, your opponent will instantly know you're bluffing. Don't 
smile as you set the card. The is a dead giveaway. You should keep a 
completely straight face, but look like you're trying not to smile, your 
hand is so good. Do this by smirking for a split-second. The dges of your 
lips should only curl up ever so slightly. Make sure your opponent sees you 
doing it, but only do it for a split-second. Then make it look like you 
hope he didn't see that. When your opponent starts his battle phase, move 
your free hand over to the set S/T card, slowly and discreetly.Make it so 
that your palm is cupped (ie not completely flat on the table) and the tip 
of your middle finger is just barely touching the card. You're going to 
spring your "trap" as soon as he attacks. Your eyebrows should be arched 
(slightly) with expectation, and your eyes should be on your opponent's 
free hand. DO NOT look your opponent in the eye. The saying that you can 
tell a liar by their not being able to look you in the eye is a myth. 
People who lie actually go out of their way to look you in the eye, so much 
so that you can tell they're sweating. Watch his free hand(duelists seem to 
like to gesture with it a lot). If done with enough confidence, your 
opponent should be suitably rattled. Hopefully, he'll refrain from 
attacking this turn, or maybe he'll have switched some of his monsters to 
defense mode before his battle phase, to be safe. This could make a big 
difference to your life points.
        Whoa, I just realised how much I've typed. Well, to put it simply, 
you should:
A- Figure out what card your opponent hates and fears
B- Do everything you normally would do if you had it in your hand(This 
requires that you be self-aware at all times, noting your own reactions and 
facial expressions and those of your opponent when you play a goo-ood card. 
Then when you want them to think you have that card, just do what you do 
when you really have it. Things like looking at both player's life points 
and pretending to figure out how much damage a particular card will do. Or 
look at your graveyard and that of your opponent and count how many 
monsters are in there.Okay, I'd better speed things up now.

2- The Gambit: Do you know someone who's a bad bluffer? Yes? Well when you 
get a good card like mirror force, magic cylinder, just set it and bluff 
badly. Or, if you've gotten a reputation for being a good bluffer and noone 
believes your bluffs anymore, just bluff well. When your opponent thinks 
you're bluffing and attacks, then WHOOPS! I guess it was a Mirror Force 
after all.

3- The Double-Gambit: Now this is where it gets tricky. Basically, the best 
way to double-gambit is to actually, truly, not care one way or another. I 
myself have a deck full of either low level, annoying monsters(Man Eater 
Bug, Penguin Soldier, Wall of Illusion, Sinister Serpent, Mystic Tomato, 
Black Forest Witch and Sangan being the most annoying); strong level four 
monsters(1900 club, G. Soldier of Stone, Aqua Madoor); Fusion Subs and lots 
of high level monsters(Summoned Skull x 2, Blue Eyes x 3, Red Eyes, Jinzo). 
Now I know that it's unheard of to have a lot of high level monsters in a 
deck, but look at it this way: throw in a couple lord of Ds and Summoning 
Flutes, a Fusion Gate or two, and now you have a better chance. Still don't 
believe me? Well this is where the Double-Gambit comes in:

First Turn. You set a Wall of Illusion. You tell your opponent what it is. 
He thinks you're bluffing and attacks it. Bye bye both monsters. Second 
turn. You have a lot of high level Dragons and a Summoned Skull in your 
hand and no way to summon them. Lord of D would help. If you had him in 
your hand. But you don't, you just have a useless flute. So you set a 
mystic Tomato. you tell your opponent what it is. You tell him you don't 
care if he attacks or not, coz either way it helps you. (You DON'T tell him 
what you have in your hand, but you know if he doesn't attack, you can 
sacrifice it for the Skull next turn and if he does attack, you'll just 
special summon a Witch or Sangan). He still thinks you're bluffing, so he 
attacks. You sp summon the Witch, and during your turn you sacrifice it for 
the Skull, drawing Lord of D from your deck. You attack and destroy his 
monster. He plays Raigeki, you play Lord of D and the Flute for a Red Eyes 
and Blue Eyes. He plays Tribute to the doomed to destroy ole Blue, you set 
Penguin. You tell him what it is. He knows to believe you by now, so he 
leaves it alone. You flip it and return 2 of his monsters, then sacrifice 
it and Red for another Blue. He plays Dark Hole, you set Man Eater Bug and 
tell him that it's Versago, but it still doesn't matter what he does. He 
knows it's NOT nothing, but he doesn't know what it is. He attacks, Bye bye 
both monsters. You finally draw that Premature Burial you need and 
resurrect Red. You then play Fusion Gate and fuse Red with the real Versago 
for your Ultimate Monster, the Meteor B Dragon. Ha ha. Game Over.

The great thing is, there's always gonna be a card you can play that will 
reap rewards whether your opponent attacks it or not. He's damned if he do, 
and damned if he don't. All you have to do is seize that opportunity to 
freak your opponent out by being honest and telling him what it is, then 
when you need to bluff, just say whatever you want and he won't know what 
to do.

Maybe this has just been a waste of your time. I like this kind of 
strategy, but this was a really long email and maybe you don't think it was 
worth the effort to write it- or read it.

If you think I've wasted my time writing this, email  Evilsbane9@hotmail.com

Oh well, at least hate mail will break up the monotony of deleting emails 
offering the chance to see "girl-on-livestock action" that seem to be 
finding their way to my inbox. And what is with their spelling?

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