• Pojo Home Page
  
• Message Board
  
• Contact Staff
  

Dark Paladin's Yu-Gi-Oh! Dimension
The State of the Current Metagame Part II--Salvaging the Game of Yugioh
2.28.06

Hello again to Pojo and Yugioh fans one and all!

Today I come to you with a very important topic, fixing the metagame.
Believe it or not, the game can primarily be fixed, but not in the way you think. Granted, the updated Ban List will help (hopefully) but you and I can help in a bigger way.

Allow me to explain. Before the first Ban List, people whined about Chaos Emperor Dragon this, and Black Luster Soldier that, and Yata this. So, Chaos Emperor Dragon and Yata are banned and people rejoice in the streets. However, then people whine about Black Luster Soldier this, and Warrior that, and even Zombie this.

So, what happens next? Black Luster Soldier is banned, and people again rejoice in the streets, but are we happy? Of course not. Even though Black Luster Soldier is gone, people are still whining. Cyber Dragon this and DD Assailant that. Control this and Warrior Toolbox that.

Even if Cyber Dragon and DD Assailant are Banned/Restricted, people will be happy, but only briefly. Why? With those threats gone or limited, people will see whatever else emerges as their new problem. Then we'll here people whining about Card A this and Card B that.

The point I'm trying to make is this: No matter what is available to us, their will always be a dominant deck type. Banning key cards to eliminate or hurt the playability of said deck helps, but only for a little while. What if we banned every monster that had an effect?
What would rule then? Maybe a Blue Eyes White Dragon beatdown deck with Luster Dragon and such.

So, what would happen? People would scream BAN BLUE EYES WHITE DRAGON!
If you don't like the state of things, then do something about it.
Play a deck that you know you will have fun playing, not just something to win. Winning is fun, and who doesn't enjoy it. However, the most important thing in Yugioh, as in any other game, is to have fun.

Try building a Dark Magician, a Blue Eyes White Dragon, an E-Hero, a Phoenix, an Hours, a Creator, A Legendary Ocean, an Exodia deck, or anything else you aren't going to see often. Originality is key in things here. Just because Deck A is on top right now, don't hop on the bandwagon.

Try your own build to try and take it down. If it doesn't work, try again. If that doesn't work, keep trying. Like I said, remember to have fun. Have fun winning, and have fun losing. Have fun gaining experience in a win or a loss. Have fun teaching younger duelists and giving them experience. We were all new players once.

I agree with Jaelove whole heartedly that we need to Ban certain game breaking cards, if only to force the experience players to start thinking outside the box. If we don't have such broken or staple cards available, we must begin to start thinking for new options. The longer we have said cards, the less thinking we do in deck construction.

When building a deck, you start off by saying "I know I need to include x staple/broken cards." Imagine if we didn't have them. We start building decks from scratch, as we did back in the beginning. As for the ban list, this will either help or hurt the game severely.

If certain problems are dealt with, and people are steered towards creativity and originality, congrats. If nothing is done, and we still have the same arsenal available, then the game may be in danger of dying, as I believe it is now. If the people playing the game aren't happy, then the game dies as the people stop playing.

To close, there will always be a dominant deck or even just a few cards or even just a certain card. No matter what we have or don't have, people are going to flock toward Card/Deck A or Card/Deck B. So, please think about what I have said, and take it to heart.

On a final unrelated note, the Create a Card Contest Voting closes at 12:00 am EST tonite, so vote now! Please feel free to contact me with anything @ tsearcy@lssu.edu I'd really like to know what you think about this article.

You stay classy, Planet Earth :)

~Dark Paladin~