deck construction, combos, and ignoring the metagame by
timexbomb

Hello all

This is my second post on pojo and i want to cover a few ideas. Building decks, 
a few combos, and getting rid of the meta-game that now plagues Yu-Gi-Oh.

OK. For deck construction i'm not going to list any cards you need. I'm also not 
going to say you need a certain amount of any type of cards (monster, spells, or 
traps). Also i won't touch the 7 staples (primarily because you don't NEED them 
but they are nice to have). This will tie into my meta-game part of the article 
later. Basically when building a new deck you need a theme or a basic idea/card 
to base it around. After you have your theme/card/idea decided you need support. 
There is no point adding a CED into a deck without light monsters. Also it's hard 
to get a deck down to 40 cards if all you do is look at what each card does by 
itself. Each card needs to tie itself to the others. It's not as hard as you'de 
think to build a deck where you don't get a "bad draw" while you're top decking 
if you make sure all the cards tie together. The key is balance. Not necessarily 
st/m balance but balancing your entire deck.

This is a very, very short explanation on the subject but it's been covered so 
many times I don't feel the need t elaborate any more. The only thing I can add 
that most people don't is know your deck. Not know what cards you have in it but 
rather know how to play them and when (but at the same time, yes you need to know 
what you have in it). You could build the best deck in the short history of this 
game and lose every duel if you don't play your cards right. Timing is one of the 
most important things in a duel. Be patient and you'll get the cards you need. 
Don't waste your cards because if you build your deck properly you won't have any 
to waste. Every card needs a purpose or it needs to be taken out of your deck.

Now for some combos (please note i'm too lazy to write an exact quote from the 
cards so I'll just give you the gist of each). I'll start with a card that's been 
getting a lot of notoriety lately. Barrel Behind the Door. 
Basically it takes non-battle damage to your life points and inflicts it to your 
opponents.

Barrel + Wall of Revealing Light.
I've run this one for a while in my burn deck and it never fails me (aside from traps 
on their side of the field but that's why you need to get rid of their traps first). 
A lot of people have already explained this so i won't.

Barrel + Dice Jar (and maybe dice re-roll).
Flip: Both players roll a die and whom ever rolls the lower number takes 1000 lp damage 
on the difference of the 2 roles. The only exception to this is if a player roles a 
6 and it's an automatic 6000 damage to their opponent. Hope either you or they roll 
a 6 and they take 6000 direct damage.

Use it as a counter to Magic Cylinder.
I'm not sure if this is legal but i assume once cylinder is used it isn't battle 
damage any more (since you take damage as a result of a trap). If i'm wrong, well, 
sorry. I'm not a YGO judge?

Barrel + Solemn Judgment.
They take direct damage equal to half your life points and their card is destroyed 
(it's beyond hilarious to see the face of the person who just lost their BLS/CED and 
4000 lp all in one card play). OK so that may sound mean but i never laugh when it 
happens.

Getting away from barrel...

Ring of Magnetism + Amazoness Swords Woman + Heart of Clear Water.
Her attack lowers enough for clear water, they have to attack her, they take all the 
battle damage, and she stays on the field. (please note for this combo to work 
successfully and to get it out easily you'll probably need to theme your deck around it)

A Legendary Ocean + Begone Knave! + Amphibious Bugroth MK-3 + The Legendary Fisherman 
(easier to pull off than you'de think).
MK-3 can attack directly with ocean on the field for 1700 lp. It returns to your hand 
because of begone knave . Finally they cant attack because the only card left on the 
field is the fisherman and ocean. A cheaper version of this is scrap fisherman for 
g-bind and a high defense monster (at least 2000 def.

This one isn't as much a combo as it is a way to get a card you need quickly. Different 
Dimension Capsule. It's a common magic that lets you select any card form your deck. 
You remove it from play face down until your second stand-by phase and then add it to 
your hand. Just a nice, over looked card I though everyone might like.

Finally ignore the meta-game. It's not the death of YGO as most people people say it is. 
In fact it makes the game easier for the skilled players. 
I saw the worlds top 8 decks and 7 were chaos. Sounds like the current meta-game is the 
way to go. On the other hand......if someone would have built a deck that purposely 
counters chaos decks they could have won. Think about it. A deck that's based around 
being anti-meta. I know this isn't a new idea. If you build a deck that counters the 
current meta-game and most people in your area jump on the current meta-game bandwagon 
you should be able to clean up at every tourney you play in. This happens all the time, 
at least it happens every time a new booster comes out. Someone figures out a easy way 
to beat the meta-game and everyone starts to use those decks. 
Then it becomes the new meta or something else does. I see a Archfiend meta in the near 
future because it seems to be the best at countering chaos on a regular basis.

"Think outside the box". No one adds more than a handful of traps anymore because of Jinzo. 
Use that to your advantage. Add extra traps and your opponent won't know what happened. 
Even if they side deck extra trap removers it won't be enough with the way the game is 
played now. Jinzo may be able to stop traps but once he's gone they can run rampant. 2400 
1 tribute monsters are a dime a dozen now and you shouldn't be afraid to sacrifice 1 monster 
to get rid of another if it's an advantage to you. 
Cards like Kaiser Glider (level 6 dragon 2400 atk) will kill Jinzo and stay on the field. 
I use 12 traps and 11 spells in one deck and no one can stop them because they just aren't 
repaired to handel that many traps (yes, Imperial Order is one of them until it gets banned). 
Yeah there is also the disadvantage of waiting a turn to use them but unless you get 
stormed/dusted it shouldn't be a problem. This holds true for spell and trap cards too. 
You don't need a certain amount of either. The 20/20 ratio is a good reference to go by but 
not written in stone. Also, don't necessarily limit your tributes to 3. Dragon decks for 
example can have 6 or 7 and successfully work.

I'm not trying to rant on the meta-game. Obviously it works (and works very
well) but it's not the only way to win. If you build a chaos deck and it works for you great, 
stick with it. If you purposely don't build a chaos deck because everyone else does and you 
lose all the time try something new (unless you like to lose?).

"Every one is different let them do what they feel. When 2 people like the same thing it's 
not a big deal. Bashing everything that others do is lame. 
Trying to be different is what makes me the same."
Jugg's Revenge (the band, not the comic book)

Peace

timexbomb@hotmail.com