July 2006
From: arkoolkat@aol.com [mailto:arkoolkat@aol.com]
Sent: Sunday, June 25, 2006 9:24 PM
To: yugiohcrew@pojo.com
Subject: A rant on the most important thing in the
game as well as originality (it is long)-Dr.Werewolf
Good (insert time of day) everyone. This is Dr.
Werewolf with a rant on two things. First, I have a
question for you; what is the most important thing
in Yu-Gi-Oh? Take a few minutes and think about it.
The majority of people would say winning. I used to
think that way. That's why I ran a Cookie Cutter
Chaos Sorcerer Deck. I beat the snot out of my
friends endless times, and had a blast doing it.
However, I never learned anything from it. I never
learned the true sweat and blood that goes into
making your own deck. I defeated everyone, and I
decided that I was good enough to challenge others.
So I did. I won. Until I found out something
horrible. Someone else had my deck. The exact same
copy!
I was shocked. I didn't duel for almost a month.
Then, I realized two things: One, I was being
stupid. Two, if the deck was online, couldn't
everyone have copied (or netdecked) it. So that
leads me to another question. What is originality?
Cookie cutters were once original, but then people
became lazy and copied it. Look at it like this: The
metagame is the "problem" and the cookie-cutters are
the "answers." They work well, and they achieve the
goal, winning.
However, there are alternate strategies that get to
the "goal." Now, while I agree that winning rocks
and losing stinks, have some fun on the way to a
win. Make your own deck. Avoid cookie cutters and do
something other than a Zombie or Chaos Sorcerer
deck. Do something like an Armed Dragon Warrior Deck
(oh, yes I love mine). As crazy as it sounds, strong
warriors/dragons make great fodder for the Armed
Dragon discard effect. A Call of the Haunted (yes, I
know, it is a common card, but there are some cards
that one cannot live without, like MST) brings back
the warrior/dragon (think Blue Eyes) for major
damage. Or try a plant/water deck. Thunder decks and
Element decks are also getting more support. A new
type of deck introduced in SOI was the
send-monsters-to-the-graveyard-and-get-them-stronger.
Don't worry if you lose at first; the more you lose,
the more you learn. Try cards that counter common
strategies (D.D. Survivor is a great one) and create
combos with them, and find ways to abuse those
combos for massive gain for yourself or massive burn
for the opponent.
As always, I would like responses, good or bad.
Flame me, I DARE you.
Dr.Werewolf
