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FanatikMonk on Yu-Gi-Oh!
15 Cards on the Side
June 1, 2006

            “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”

                        - Fortune Cookie         

Every time someone says I don’t have a side deck or I don’t side anything ever, I want to hit them.  Side Decking is what makes dueling a legitimate art and allows duelists to expand their talents and explore every corner of their dueling.  If you weren’t aware, the side deck is a small 15 card deck from which you are allowed to trade cards into and out of your main deck in between duels.  If you weren’t aware, side decking is vital in competitive play.

To further illustrate this point, let’s take Johnny N00b and examine his deck.  Like any 12-year old Johnny keeps 3 Giant Trunades in his deck in case he encounters a burn deck, Return from the different dimension for macro cosmos, Last Day of witch in case they run a lot of spellcasters and Amplifier in case he plays exchange, gets their Jinzo, plays brain control, steals their monster and then sacrifices it for their stolen Jinzo.  While all of these ideas are legit counters to strategies (except that last one) Johnny N00b would be much more successful if he were to amass these cards in his side deck siding them in and out for appropriate situations.

So, now that we’re on the same page let’s get down to the art that is side decking and how it’s best used.

1.  WATCH YOUR OPPONENT

            Jeez, people come on!  If you win game 1 soundly and your opponent does not side deck, there is no reason for you to either (save a near loss, or a bad hand on your opponent’s part and a difficult strategy), but if you see them swap 10 cards you better be on your heels replacing yours too.  One of the key things people often don’t get about side decking is what to side and how often.  The answer to the second question is easy, often.  You’ll likely be in a situation where you feel at least one of the cards in your deck isn’t appropriate for countering your opponent’s strategy and that a card in your side may be better suited.  The first question is a bit more difficult.  I often argue that you shouldn’t play the meta, you should play against it.  Side decking is very similar.  Don’t play against your opponent’s deck, play against what you think it will become.  If you see them swap a card or two, don’t hesitate to do the same; if they switch in 14 cards, be prepared to face a new deck entirely and side deck appropriately.

2.  Consistency is Your Best Friend

            I once wrote that the best duelists and the best decks will win/lose against the same match-ups often.  The same idea should be followed through side decking.  If you’re dueling against burn, throw in your s/t removal in place for your stall.  If you’re playing against mill, swap some of your big monsters out for skill drains.  Most importantly, try to trade the same things every time.  A good side deck will turn your deck into 10 new decks, each one of which should be practiced with and should have different play-styles appropriately.  It’s very easy for side decking to throw new duelists off, so don’t be left in the dueling dust and make sure to practice with the full range of your decks.

3.  Get To Know Your Deck

            A lot of people differ in opinions in how to build a good side deck, so don’t hesitate to disagree with this portion of my rant.  I believe that you can’t come close to building a good Side Deck if you haven’t played with a finalized version of your deck.  I’m a big fan of not running a side deck for the first week or so of using a new deck.  During the building phases, it’s nearly impossible how effectively or ineffectively your deck will work against certain builds and themes, thus it’s incredibly difficult to predict what cards will help you against your most difficult match-ups.  Test a lot, first, then build.

4.  Don’t be Afraid to Lose

            Some decks just aren’t as effective against certain types and, in these cases, I feel it’s not even necessary to prepare.  While this may add a lot to luck, it also ensures that your side deck is tailored to beating the decks you can beat more efficiently.  For example, my Strike Ninja deck loses to a well built Exodia deck nearly 80% of the time I matched up against one.  Now at this point I could devote 10 of my 15 cards in my side deck to beating exodia and give myself a 60% chance of losing, but that would depreciate the chances of beating other decks.  Exodia isn’t important anyway.  What I’m getting at is that some decks just can’t handle some themes and any card added to beat an impossible theme is a card wasted.  Granted that in the current Meta, if you can’t beat chaos control or a basic Return variant, then this is no big deal, but if you’re losing to Horus or Elemental Heroes then wasting room in your side deck for memory crusher or dragon seeker is foolish.

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So, as usual, I’ll end with an example that helps explain what I just went over (plus people usually just scan for a deck list in articles like this).  This is a deck I built two weeks ago and have recently created a side deck for.

Monsters (19)

D. D. Survivor x 3

D. D. Scout Plane x 2

Zaborg x 2

Mobius x 2

Dark Dust Spirit x 1

Don Zaloog x 1

Asura Priest x 1

Spirit Reaper x 3

Breaker the Magical Warrior x 1

Dekoichi x 2

Morphing Jar x 1

Spells (14)

Graceful Charity x 1

Nobleman of Crossout x 2

Mystical Space Typhoon x 1

Snatch Steal x 1

Confiscation x 1

Dimension Fissure x 2

Enemy Controller x 2

Reinforcement of the Army x 2

Grand Convergence x 2

Traps (9)

Torrential tribute x 1

Mirror Force x 1

Macro Cosmos x 3

Solemn Judgment x 2

Return from the Diff. Dim. x 2

            For those of you that don’t know this is my take on Macro Cosmos (thanks to every one that gave input on this deck in the forums).  The deck focuses on abusing the recursion of my Different Dimension monsters and allows for over extension with cards like Asura Priest, Don Zaloog and attack position Spirit Reapers.

Side Deck

D.D. Scout Plane x 1

Hino-Kagu Tsuchi x 2

A Cat of Ill Omen x 2

Creature Swap x 2

Giant Trunade x 2

Nobleman of Extermination x 2

Trap Hole x 2

Solemn Judgment x 1

Treasure Map x 1

This side deck does exactly what I stated above and allows me to counter what my opponent will throw at me with their side choices.  Cat, Treasure Map, my trunades and the trunades I expect my opponent to have provide an excellent response to the s/t removal expected of my opponent.  Hino and a third scout plane continue the theme of over-extension and season it with some mass hand killing.  Creature swap is key for the mirror match against other return variants, ideally I’ll be swapping one of my spirit monsters or a D.D. for a mirage dragon, warwolf or Sorcerer in an attempt to stall my opponent’s strategy and further my own.  Nobleman of extermination is often the first thing I side in.  Many players look to Return from the different dimension and solemn judgment to stop my deck and Nobleman of extermination is an excellent response to that.  My deck can function without solemn or RftDD, but removing my opponent’s cards adds pressure.

Anyway, hope this helped!  Please side deck liberally and Happy Dueling!