• Pojo Home Page
  
• Message Board
  
• Contact Staff
  

Mike "Dawn Yoshi" Roseberg

Stop Being Dumb,
and Build Decks that Don't Suck
March 21, 2006

DISCLAIMER: This article represents the opinions of its writer. It does not reflect the opinions of other writers, or this or any other web sites. This is just the writer being obnoxious. Be warned. I will most likely be offensive in this article. This includes ranting, hating, cursing, and the use of phrases that parents probably wouldn’t want their children to read. They don’t need to be this cynical…yet. :P

As many of you are aware of by now, the updates to the advanced format in the Yu-Gi-Oh Trading Card Game have been released. As of April 1^st, 2006, the national metagame will basically remain the same, as the changes have done absolutely nothing to solve any issues of balance in this format. Neat, huh?

As someone who has played this game for well over four years now, I have found this list to be a disgrace to the fun that this game can provide. This list simply leads to a continuously stale format for the next six months. I’ve also spent the past year discussing game theory in Yu-Gi-Oh, primarily through forums of this web site and on Metagame.com. If this were actually an article for the other web site, this would be a lot less casual and written a little more professionally. However, as many can see in my posts over on the Pojo Message Boards, I can be a lot less casual here. To be it bluntly, I can be straight-to-the-point cynical ass. While I try to maintain some level of professionalism when in a heated argument or topic of discussion, there are moments when I see a response from a user who put a little less thought behind his or her opinion. It is at that point that I am tempted to just respond hastily, and I immediately come off as an ass. Sometimes I can stop myself, while other times I can’t.

Ladies and gentlemen, and other viewers of the Pojo web site, I can’t stop myself from being an ass today.

This is warning right now that I am going to be very harsh in my comments from this point onward. If you are easily offended, it is recommended that you follow the suggestions of the disclaimer and browse a less heated article, such as one of Dark Paladin’s articles. Or you can check out the card of the day reviews for today, obviously skipping over mine since it will probably be filled with jokes at a bad card’s expense and will be stamped with 1 out of 5.

Where are the deck-builders in this format?

If there has one thing that has made me despise the past six months in the Yu-Gi-Oh Trading Card Game, it has been the quality of decks I have seen reach top 8 for Shonen Jump Championships. Specifically, my comments of increased sarcasm and hatred began when I saw Dan Fitzgerald’s deck-list. For those of you who haven’t seen it, it’s available on Metagame.com under the SJC coverage of Atlanta. Dan’s main-deck contained (get this) 39 different cards. Thirty-Nine! He ran two copies of D. D. Assailant, but otherwise it was a random pile of cards that may have at one point been considered good. Horrendous. One of the largest gripes I have in any Trading Card Game is a concern of a deck’s consistency. Obviously, consistency in hitting specific cards is increased when you increase the number of specific cards in your deck. If you are playing Warrior Toolbox, you obviously run the maximum number of Reinforcements of the Armies that you are allowed to run. But Dan’s deck was different. It rant one copy of practically everything from the top 8, including the even more random ass copy of the Nephthys cards. WHAT? The concept behind this should never work, and it is something I highly advise every doing when constructing a deck for a tournament. The idea behind Dan’s deck is that you are running so many options for so many scenarios in your main-deck. However, that is what you sideboard should be for. In mathematical and theoretical terms, you should never be able to consistently hit the answers you need in every duel with a deck like that. To go a step further, you should be drawing the cards that are dead in your specific match-ups. Dan Fitzgerald finished 2^nd that day, which dampened my heart as someone who loves game theory and deck construction in Yu-Gi-Oh. He obviously doesn’t suck if he can get 2^nd place, but his deck building skills obviously left a lot to be desired.

This has continued as a trend in top 8 deck-lists. Well, not the 39 random pile of cards trend. But bad deck-building has been continuously seen. One of the most popular horrendous deck additions has been One Random Avariceä (or simply ORA). ORA became popular as of SJC San Francisco, and it is one of the most shining examples of inconsistency in a main-deck that I have seen in ages. The idea is that you splash Pot of Avarice in your standard deck that has no real method of generating a consistent flow of monsters into your graveyard (sans maybe one random Magical Merchant, which is still horrible). Hence, these players treat Pot of Avarice as though it were Pot of Greed. Oh, wait. But Avarice isn’t Pot of Greed. It’s a card that can give you a solid two new cards, but its effect prevents you from utilizing it in the early or mid-game. To my dismay, this trend has been made even more popular as time has progressed! ARGH!

My final instance of seeing ugly looking decks came from SJC Durham, when I saw Jerry Wang’s top 8 deck. Now, I have to give Overdose credit. They’re good players. They not only follow the theory of card presence without thinking about it, but they also know hot to psychologically mess with opponents too. These guys should be playing Poker, because they would probably be able to make some easy money at a local casino. It sounds a little more profitable than this game. They all seem like nice guys too, such as Anthony Alvarado.

But I can’t help but think to myself every time I see decks like these in the top 8, “Oh my god…you have GOT to be kidding me!” My first sentiment of seeing Anthony’s first top 8 deck was “wonderfully random”. Granted, these guys know how to sideboard well enough to compensate for their main-decks, which I have rarely liked unfortunately. But the one Apprentice Magician with two Old Vindictive Magicians, the ORA, the really awful one-splashed copy in Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World in the main-deck. What?! How depressing. Unfortunately, most “Flip-Flop Control” decks look like the decks I always complain about, which makes me pretty sad. Then again, Flip-Flop Control is easy at making me sad. It’s the “This is sort of trying to be Goat Control but it really isn’t” deck. It runs inferior advantage engines and is basically just trying to make due with what this format has given control, which isn’t very much.

That’s about all I have to say about deck-types. If I’m to go on, it would just be needless ranting. This summarizes my point on deck-construction well enough.

No, Raigeki does not require skill

Something has been driving me insane on the forums. The usage of the word “Skill” in any way has been pissing me off. A lot. Whether it’s “skill”, or “skillful”, or “skill-requiring”, it’s usually always followed with a really stupid comment.

The worst comment I have read? “Raigeki is a skillful card to use”. Yep, you heard me right folks. “Raigeki is a skillful card to use”. I know, it’s hard to believe. “Raigeki is a skillful card to use”. Funniest thing I read in a while when I first read the comment. Then is just became degrading and annoying. It’s about as annoying as reading people say that Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning didn’t deserve to be banned (haha. That’s funny). This comment, among others, blew me away. I’ve read some pretty horrendous suggestions before, such as the unbanning of Magical Scientist and the banning of Catapult Turtle, among others. But those can be looked over compared to this.

The word “skill” is thrown around so much that it no longer has meaning in the Yu-Gi-Oh Community. Apparently a lot of players now think that being “skillful” is just “saving cards that can get you a 2-for-1 until you get profit from using them” is actually a skilled played. No people. No. Raigeki is broken. It is the most horrendously broken card to ever be released in any trading card game. It is a mass-destruction effect that only hurts your opponent, and it has no cost. Using Raigeki does NOT require skill. It only requires you to have common sense. Raigeki only requires you to have the common sense needed to not suck at playing this game. Now stop pumping your own play-abilities up, stop saying broken ass cards like Raigeki require skill to use, and go focus on building decks that don’t look like complete piles.

Mike breathes outward in relief

That felt better!

I’ll probably return some time again in the next month hating on another popular Yu-Gi-Oh topic. If you want, feel free to discuss this on the forums. Discuss the topics I hated on. Agree with me. Flame me. Say I’m a dumbass. I don’t care. I’ll probably find your thread and defend myself and refer to you as a dumbass if your argument sucks, but I welcome the discussion. I’d prefer, however, that this inspires a discussion that is unlike this article. Tame, intelligent, and not just a rant.

Eternally hating on things,

Mike “Dawn Yoshi” Rosenberg