August 2006
From: Josh Herzog [mailto:basil_koriander@hotmail.com]
Sent: Friday, July 28, 2006 12:32 AM
To: yugiohcrew@pojo.com
Subject: JK-47 -- A rant.
I love this game. Like seriously, it borders on
unhealthy, my love for this game. Yet, I never win.
Ever. I go to tournaments every week, and I duel
whenever I get a chance. But when it comes to
winning at Yu-Gi-Oh, I'm at a loss. Don't pardon the
pun, it was intentional. The reason why I don't win?
Well several.
First, it could be that I am not that great of a
duelist. That's right, i can admit it, I might not
be that good. My record would seem to indicate that,
anyhow. So if this is the case, then why do I still
duel? Because I love the game. And with patience, I
might get good. So let's move on to the next reason
as to why I never win.
I run oddball, screwy decks that no one has ever
seen or heard of. Yep, this
is probably the real reason. Right now I have three
decks made. One is a bounce deck, focusing on
returning monsters to my opponent's hand, and
limiting their field presence. One is a Macro-Stall,
which is designed to take all cards out of play
while hiding behind a G-Bind or LLAB for my D.D.
Dynamite or Gren Maju Da Eiza to reach game-ending
strength. The third deck is a Diamond Dude deck, as
dedicated as i dare go, which translates into 5
cards that serve the Dude's Purpose. 2 Mega-ton
Magical Cannons, 2 Des Croakings, and one Chaos
Greed. To counteract the possible dead cards in hand
I have included two Rageki Breaks and one Rising
Energy. Both require a
dsicard. Then, to counteract the loss of card
advantage, I have 3 copies of Cybernetic Cyclopean,
arguably the best topdeck monster in the game. When
you have no cards in your hand, it can kamikaze a
monarch.
So with these decks, running into the standard meta,
I am pretty much screwed before the game starts.
Even at my local store where the local meta does not
reflect the larger North American Meta, I am at a
disadvantage, because My decks focus on longshot
combos, and effective stalling techniques, versus
the relentless aggro and OTK decks of my
competitiors.
But I still play, and I still play my decks. Because
I love the game.
The next reason that I might not win is luck. I'm
not blaming all my problems on luck, afterall, I
just did admit to runnig combo decks, but there are
times when luck is against you. Case in Point, I was
playing at a tournament. I was running my
Macro-Stall, which requires the game to drag on
for a while. I go first, set a macro, and a
man-eater bug, hoping that opponent will run into
the bug, while I flip the macro cosmos to remove the
monsters from play. My opponent's first turn, the
second turn of the duel, he plays nobleman, giant
trunade, Cyber Stein, Cyber End, Megamorph, and a
Limiter Removal just for insurance. That was his
opening hand. The exact cards he needed for the OTK.
No matter how skillfully you build a deck, luck
will always play a little bit of a factor. Luck
rarely works for me. But I still play the game.
Are there any other reasons as to why I might not be
winning? Not really.
Overall, I am missing a few key cards that most
people run, even in decks that are not necessarily
cookie cutter. For example, I do not have Jinzo. I
have one Zaborg, and I had to give up a lot to get
him in a trade. Tis comes
back to luck, and pack buying. But needless to say,
if I am lacking the cards that have been determined
to be necessary to win, it is little wonder that I
don't win. But again, I still play the game.
The point I have been trying to make here is that I
love the game. And no matter what the future brings,
be it a ban list bordering on fascist control, or
unrivaled freedom where everyone will run the same
40 "staples,"
I will still play the game. And chances are I will
still be running my oddball kooky decks that are
nowhere even close to the competitive metagame.
I love Yu-Gi-Oh, it is the top of my list when it
comes to fun, and no matter how much others might
complain that the game is stale, or boring, it is
only as boring as you let it be. If you want to keep
the game fun, find what makes it fun for you, and
stop being so obsessed with winning. This is a game,
and losing never killed anyone in a card game, well,
at least not one that didn't involve money. If you
love the game, keep playing, keep trying out what is
fun for you, and don't worry whether or not it will
win.
If you love winning more than the game, then you
really should find another pasttime, or have a kid.
They're great things to put in competitions, once
they're old enough.
Anyhow, I've rambled on for long enough. If you've
read this all the way through, thanks. If' I've
managed to change your mind about the state of teh
game, and convince you that the love of the game is
more important than victory, well even better. If
you want to send hatemail, praisemail, or any other
type of mail, send it to
basil_koriander@hotmail.com
Until next time, Keep dueling, keep thinking, keep
playing.
Peace.
JK-47
