Where is Yu-Gi-Oh! Headed?-Anteaus

Anteaus44@aol.com


Before I get into my article, I would just like to point out that you 
do not need BLS-EotB to win a duel/tournament. That said, let me continue...

Where is Yu-Gi-Oh! headed? Players spend time and money and effort in 
all these cards and these tournaments, but when it comes down to it, 
you only really read about two or three of them. After the banlist came 
into effect, the debate which raged for so long on Pojo and other 
countless Yu-Gi-Oh! forums simply ceased to exist. All I see now are 
different combos that almost anyone could think of. 

When I asked where the game was headed, I did not mean the game itself. 
I meant the players. Yu-Gi-Oh! is not just a game--it's a world in its 
own. 
Yu-Gi-Oh! requires one to be constantly on alert and adapting to new 
situations/ideas/concepts, such as the banlist. It's not just in a duel 
where one needs to be adept in knowing what is going on around them. One 
must be alert of the opposition all the time.

I don't just mean in the tournament. I mean all across the city, town, 
state, hell, country even. One needs to know their competition. You see 
all of these people in the Championships and whatnot, but what does that 
do? Prestige, in a small, underground community of card players? Hey, 
guess what? Anybody could beat that person. Their deck is not unbeatable, 
so get over the fact that you lost to them and build a better deck.

This is what I mean. Originality now is gone. There are three decks: 
Chaos/Scientist Control, Warrior Control, and Burn. Exodia gets toasted 
by a simple Kycoo. Last Turn-Jinzo. Final Countdown-Magic Jammer. The 
three decks that win are listed above, and frankly, I'm getting tired 
of it. Creativity now has taken second place to winning, and the whole 
point of the game is to win, I agree 100%, but the fact is is the game 
is meant to be fun. Yu-Gi-Oh! is a dying game.

I haven't been to a tournament in God knows how long, but my friends go 
every week and they say the same thing: "Oh, yeah, Matt won this week, 
or Casey won." They all play Chaos. I don't get it...the easiest way to 
kill Chaos is Kycoo. Or, Creature Swap. Drop Off. Snatch Steal. Book of 
Moon/Nobleman of Crossout, all of which I run in my deck. 

Remember way back when, when Mystic Tomato was the king in Control 
decks? 
Remember when someone finally decided to run Torrential Tribute in 3's 
and kill 'em all off? The game changed. Remember when the Chaos monsters 
came out, and CED was suddenly in everyone's deck? The game changed. Well, 
since the banlist, the game has stayed the same. At least in the past, you 
had variations on the Control deck and the Beatdown deck. Now, it's all just 
cookie-cutter bullcrap. It's all the same.

At one point, my deck was cookie-cutter, I admit. But now, since I've been 
out of the loop for so long, it's not anymore. And you know what? It's damn 
good. I play with my friends all the time, one of which uses a Chaos/Control/
Warrior deck that would rival the GenCon SoCal winner. And I beat him every 
time. 

So what I'm saying to all of you who are reading this is: do something about 
the competition. Find a way to destroy it, as I have. Make them change the 
game again, because right now it's on the path to total annhillation, and to 
tell you the truth, I don't want that. For anyone who has ever lost to a 
Final Countdown deck, you know what I'm saying. Tell your friends to go 
to the tournament and scope out the competition. Anyone who doesn't visit 
Pojo should, and they should read the Tourney Reports. This way, you know 
what is going on on the outside, and you can figure out a way to change 
it *cough 'Null and Void/Disturbance Strategy' cough. [this combo is not 
legal - LT]* This way, I can go back to liking the game I like, and not 
playing the game I play.

If you have anything to say to me, e-mail me at Anteaus44@aol.com 

Cheers,
Anteaus