June 2007

Hello Pojoer's

I was going over the tips submitted by the writers and one thing caugt my eye. I won't say which writer. One rule that writers are suppose to follow is not bash other writers. Now I've been playing this game since Legend of Blue Eyes and I can't say I'm a pro. I'm intermediate at best. I truly believe I'm intermediate because I've never been to a tournament and my beliefs in dueling will differ from the tournament.

While I do agree that cookie cutter cards are everywhere and we must put a stop to it, but there's a problem with this way of thinking. (I'll explain)

First I will explain why we use cookie cutter cards. There are times when certain cards are required for the deck. We may not see it, but the owner of the deck does.
Take the card Cyber Dragon for example, a deck that requires sacrifice needs this card and it is essential to have.
Other players may have included this card as sort of a last resort type. For example, let's say a Snipe hunter deck has just lost all 3 snipe hunters, now what? Or it's early in the game and you didn't get the snipe hunters you want in the game, you gotta have something to stall a little. You need something to back it up. So why not a Cyber Dragon to put a little resistance. This is probably something the creator faced from time to time.

Let's take another deck for example, a hand destruction deck. One writer criticized how spirit reaper and confiscation should not be in there because those are cookie cutter cards. The problem with that reasoning is that the main point of the deck is hand destruction, so doesn't it make sense to put those two cards in?

Let me tell you about the deck I run, deck destruction. Of course I have to put in a Mirror Force, but is it because it's a cookie cutter card? No. The reason I put it in is because this deck has nothing but weak monsters (needle worm, morphing jar, etc...) I can't fight back, so I need to defend myself somehow. That's why I also added Radiant Mirror Force. The logic is that since my monsters are too weak to attack, more and more monsters on my opponents side builds up. I must be able to maintain my lead and find some way to slow down my opponent.

So these are the reasons that people put certain cards in their deck, it makes it run smoothly.

As I said before there's a problem with the logic of saying cookie cutters are bad and we should not run them. Let me list cards that have been played out countless times:

Heavy Storm
Mystical Space TYphoon
Call of the Haunted
Premature Burial
Sangan
Swords of Revealing Light
Nobleman of Crossout
Snatch Steal
Mirror Force

Some of these cards are needed. And I'm sure everyone has these cards in their deck (maybe not all of these cards, but a good number). So if a person wants to be cookie cutter free, he or she would need to remove these cards from their deck. As it stands now, I have never seen a deck that doesn't run these cards. So in order to even begin to remove cookies, we start from the root. No one is actually afraid to try news things, it's just that this game does not have that many options. With that being said always remember that we should not automatically assume the worse of everyone.

I guess I'll list my deck that I have been playing around with.

The Beasts Within Deck

Monsters 18
Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke x3
Strike Ninja x3
Giant Rat x3
The Earth Hex Sealed Fusion x3
Big Koala x3
Des Kangaroo x3

Magic:16
Centrifugal Field x1
Wild nature's Release x3
Offerings to the Doomed x2
Premature Burial x1
Heavy Storm x1
Giant Trunade x1
Mystical Space Tyhpoon x1
Reload x3
Magical Mallet x3

Trap:6
Ninjustu Art of Transformation x3
Call of the Haunted x1
Birthright x2

Fusion:
Master of Oz

One thing that might catch a readers eye is Offerings to the Doomed. This quick play card with the field spell and call of the haunted could be a otk.

Imagine this scenario

Centrifugal Field is on, Master of Oz, one set call of the haunted, and an Offerings to the Doomed in the hand. I attack with Master of Oz, damage my opponent, then activate offerings to the doomed. The result is that Big Koala would be special summoned from the graveyard and Call of the Haunted would bring back Master of Oz a second time.

Offerings to the Doomed and Call of the Haunted helps with attacking twice.
(I used to use this combo with Black Luster Soldier, god bless his banned
soul) If you want, this could also work for Mataza the Zapper. Only use this combo to finish a game, Offerings won't let you draw for next turn.

Ninjutsu Art of Transformation is used for the level 4 ninjas that would become Koala's.

Giant Trunade helps bring back the Ninjutsu Art of Transformation

Reload and Magical Mallet is used to get rid of dead draws.

Feel free to mod this deck any way you want.
Thanks for reading. I tend to write long articles.
-old_school_yugi

Send any hate mail, advice on how to improve decks, comments, questions, etc... to old_school_yugi@hotmail.com