May 2008

State of the game Letter to Uppderdeck - Firestrife   

I very recently wrote a detailed e-mail to Uppderdeck regarding my concerning thoughts on the state of the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG. I'm posting this letter here for you to read, and if you agree, then I encourage you to e-mail them also. It takes more than one person to start the ball rolling and elect for change, so please write to Upperdeck if you feel the same way. Their general e-mail is ude@upperdeck.com
 
             --- letter is as follows ---
 
I have a great concern with the state of the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG that I wish to bring up. If I am sending this e-mail to the wrong person/department, please contact me back to let me know whom I can write to.

I have been playing the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG since the release of Metal Raiders, and in the past couple of months I have observed a great decline in the Yu-Gi-Oh player base at local tournaments. I play in the greater Toronto area in Ontario, Canada, and while I recognize that there may be significantly more players in the United States than in Canada, the trends I have observed lead me to believe that this isn't only happening here. Many dedicated players I have played with in local tournaments have stopped attending tournaments because they cannot afford the costs of acquiring the newest cards for tier one competitive decks. Since the return of Secret Rares in "Strike Of Neos", very useful cards have become incredibly difficult if not downright impossible to get for the average player. Aside from the obvious that specific Secret Rares are incredibly difficult to pull from booster packs, when they are pulled and sold on e-bay or in hobby stores, because of their rarity and usefulness, they might demand anywhere from 50 to 300 dollars - that's a lot of money for a single card, especially for young individuals that don't have a lot of income but wish to participate in this enjoyable hobby.

I play Yu-Gi-Oh online with individuals in the United States, and have frequently heard from these players how diminished local tournaments have become (resorting to play primarily online, which in my opinion doesn't offer anywhere near as much entertainment value as playing with people face to face). Also, when I look at Shonen Jump Championship results and top 16 deck lists, the same names keep consistently coming up. I'm not saying this to question the playing ability of these people, but for individuals who can travel to so many Shonen Jump Championships AND have 3 copies of Dark Armed Dragons in their decks, it does lead one to stipulate that there's access to an adequate amount of money there. My point is, this game has now long become and continues to be, a game for the rich. Structure decks aren't enough to get a beginner into the competitive scene. Being able to access GREAT cards like the vast amounts of very hard to find Secret Rares, only by spending a lot of money to purchase them, or having to give up an incredible amount of one's good cards in a trade for something like a Dark Armed Dragon or Crush Card Virus, isn't fair. If this trend continues Yu-Gi-Oh will inevitably suffer an early retirement, due to a dropping number of players.

If Secret Rares came at a higher ratio like 2 per box, or their status was abolished all together, then the rarity levels could find a little bit more balance. Also, creating cards that are less than sub-par in playability that come as rares and super rares (ex: Jinzo - Lord, and Legendary Fiend) is also a complete waste when pulled as the rare in a booster pack (when they are only worthy of being commons). I am not naive and understand that, for you, the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG is a source of profit. However, it could be more balanced by having more good cards accessible to more players. This way, people can look forward more to pulling good rares the old fashioned way (by buying booster packs, rather than having to make ridiculous trades or very expensive purchases). At the same time, more duellists playing the game and participating in local and large-scale tournaments, means a greater longevity for the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG. In addition, a local Hobby Store owner I know (Ollies Hobbies), tells me that he has been trying to get hobby league cards and Champion Packs from Uppderdeck, to lure more players into playing. If the requirements for running a fully fledged sanctioned tournament are so stringent, this is also going to translate to fewer venues for duellists to play and in turn, translate into yet again, a smaller player base for the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG. Off the top of my head I can think of 2 other Hobby Stores in the Greater Toronto Area that have gone under because of minimal attendance at tournaments. This is not the direction I want to see this game take, and it is not the direction anyone I know wants this game to take.
 
I'm not writing anything that's fictitious, these are real trends taking place that WILL hurt this game, and I hope that someone at Upperdeck will take this to heart and seriously consider making changes to card rarities and ratios in future sets. If I receive no reply to this I will be left to assume that no one cared to read what I had to say, or did not take these claims seriously. In which case, I would vastly spread the word among the Yu-Gi-Oh community that Upperdeck has truly become strictly a purely profit-driven organization, and I would actively discourage players from taking up Yi-Gi-Oh, and inform the younger generation of duellists that there is no future for them in this game for all the reasons stated above. In the past I have recruited many players to play Yu-Gi-Oh, and I would like to continue THAT trend rather than discourage people from investing their hard earned dollars on this game.

Sincerely yours,
 
Concerned veteran Yu-Gi-Oh player.
 
             --- end of letter ---
 
I'm sure many will agree, and some will disagree, either way, I stand by my observations. I can be reached via firestrife@hotmail.com to answer to any questions or comments.