Beaverman's Take on Originality Cont'd-Beaverman




---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: TCF1297@aol.com
Date:  Sat, 2 Apr 2005 10:59:59 EST

Some of you may have read my first article on how just a few people 
turned the masses against "cookie-cutters," thus making them the new 
majority, and becoming the knew monotony.  I'd like to add how this 
affects the tournament environment.

There are seven types of duelists in each tournament.  There are three 
types of chaos/burn/zombie players (also known as cookie cutters), the 
ones who play to win, the kids who can't find another way to win, and 
those who honestly enjoy the deck they are playing.  There are also four 
kinds of original players, the ones who are told to by those they find 
superior to themselves, the ones that are finding an alternate way to win 
(to find glory for themselves for creating a new metagame), those who 
are truly original by nature, and those who have horrid cards.

In my four months of going to my cardshop EVERY SINGLE WEEK, I have 
discovered that the "cookie cutters" who truly enjoy their deck are 
just as few as the original players who are original by nature.  Let 
me tell you about my examples of each.

Two "cookie-cutters" that truly enjoy the game around me are Will and Carl.  
Will runs a chaos/warrior deck, and Carl runs a burn deck.  Will was able 
to bring our store into the advanced age (since we had all played chaos and
control) by showing us his new deck/strategy.  Yes, Will won the first few 
tournaments.  It is Carl though, who has won the last few.  Carl introduces 
a new metagame in our store every couple months.  Lately, he has sent our 
area scrambling to find burn or anti-burn cards.  I have seen 3 burn decks 
pop up since he started using one two weeks ago, and Mobius is selling out 
constantly.  I think that players capable of bringing in new metagame are 
truly superior.

I also know of two original players that truly enjoy themselves, Dominique 
and Paul.  Both of them run original decks, and do quite well in our weekly 
tournament.  Dominique has been running a Dark Magician Deck ever since the 
first ban, and it can hold its own against warrior/chaos decks.  Paul, on the 
other hand, runs a Mystic Swordsman Deck, which flourishes in our burn based 
metagame, and he has made the semifinals multiple times in our tourney.  
Neither of them play to be original, they use their decks because they love 
their cards and enjoy their decks.

This brings me to my final point.  The Heart of the Cards.  All of us watched 
the anime at some point.  All of us know about the Heart of the Cards, but few 
of us believe it.  I didn't, until a few weeks ago.  I was dueling a kid with an 
Exodia Deck, and things weren't looking too good.  He sprung his trap on me the 
first duel, but in the second, with some aggressive sidedecking, I won the 
second.  It was the last duel, and his Big Eye had assured that he would draw 
his final Exodia piece next.  Fortunately, his Big Eye was in attack mode, and 
I was certain that Don Zaloog was in my deck somewhere.  I went to draw, and 
began to hesitate.  Then a man sitting next to me says, "Don't worry, you'll 
do it."

"How do you know, my Don Zaloogs weren't coming through for me last duel?" 
I asked.

"How have you used your Don Zaloogs in the past?" he replied calmly.

I didn't answer.  I had to admit, I mostly used them for chaos food.

"Just apologize mentally.  You have to love your cards," he said.

"Like the Heart of the Cards?" I asked.

"Your cards are a part of you, faith in yourself is Heart of the Cards," 
Johnney replied finally.

I pulled Don Zaloog.  Attacked Big Eye.  Top two cards.  He surrendered, 
as it was the head.  Maybe some of you have had experiences like mine, but 
I went on to win the tournament.  I have NEVER disregarded my Don Zaloog's 
usefulness since, and only used it for Chaos sacrifices when his sacrifice 
was completely necessary.

Good Luck,
Beaverman
AIM me at deliciousbass0