Card Game
Card of the Day
TCG Fan Tips
Top 10 Lists
Banned/Restricted List
Yu-Gi-Oh News
Tourney Reports
Duelist Interviews

Featured Writers
Baneful's Column
Anteaus on YGO
General Zorpa
Dark Paladin's Dimension
Retired Writers

Releases + Spoilers
Booster Sets (Original Series)
LOB | MRD | MRL | PSV
LON | LOD | PGD | MFC
DCR | IOC | AST | SOD
RDS | FET
Booster Sets (GX Series)
TLM | CRV | EEN | SOI
EOJ | POTD | CDIP | STON
FOTB | TAEV | GLAS | PTDN
LODT
Booster Sets (5D Series)
TDGS | CSOC | CRMS | RBGT
ANPR | SOVR | ABPF | TSHD
STBL | STOR | EXVC
Booster Sets (Zexal Series)
GENF | PHSW | ORCS | GAOV
REDU | ABYR | CBLZ | LTGY
NUMH | JOTL | SHSP | LVAL
PRIO

Starter Decks
Yugi | Kaiba
Joey | Pegasus
Yugi 2004 | Kaiba 2004
GX: 2006 | Jaden | Syrus
5D: 1 | 2 | Toolbox
Zexal: 2011 | 2012 | 2013
Yugi 2013 | Kaiba 2013

Structure Decks
Dragons Roar &
Zombie Madness
Blaze of Destruction &
Fury from the Deep
Warrior's Triumph
Spellcaster's Judgment
Lord of the Storm
Invincible Fortress
Dinosaurs Rage
Machine Revolt
Rise of Dragon Lords
Dark Emperor
Zombie World
Spellcaster Command
Warrior Strike
Machina Mayhem
Marik
Dragunity Legion
Lost Sanctuary
Underworld Gates
Samurai Warlord
Sea Emperor
Fire Kings
Saga of Blue-Eyes
Cyber Dragon

Promo Cards:
Promos Spoiler
Coll. Tins Spoiler
MP1 Spoiler
EP1 Spoiler

Tournament Packs:
TP1 / TP2 / TP3 / TP4
TP5 / TP6 / TP7 / TP8
Duelist Packs
Jaden | Chazz
Jaden #2 | Zane
Aster | Jaden #3
Jesse | Yusei
Yugi | Yusei #2
Kaiba | Yusei #3
Crow

Reprint Sets
Dark Beginnings
1 | 2
Dark Revelations
1 | 2 | 3 | 4
Gold Series
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
Dark Legends
DLG1
Retro Pack
1 | 2
Champion Pack
1 | 2 | 3 | 4
5 | 6 | 7 | 8
Turbo Pack
1 | 2 | 3 | 4
5 | 6 | 7

Hidden Arsenal:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4
5 | 6 | 7

Checklists
Brawlermatrix 08
Evan T 08
X-Ref List
X-Ref List w/ Passcodes

Anime
Episode Guide
Character Bios
GX Character Bios

Video Games
Millennium Duels (2014)
Nighmare Troubadour (2005)
Destiny Board Traveler (2004)
Power of Chaos (2004)
Worldwide Edition (2003)
Dungeon Dice Monsters (2003)
Falsebound Kingdom (2003)
Eternal Duelist Soul (2002)
Forbidden Memories (2002)
Dark Duel Stories (2002)

Other
About Yu-Gi-Oh
Yu-Gi-Oh! Timeline
Pojo's YuGiOh Books
Apprentice Stuff
Life Point Calculators
DDM Starter Spoiler
DDM Dragonflame Spoiler
The DungeonMaster
Millennium Board Game

- Magic
- DBZ
- Gundam
- Pokemon
- Digimon 
- Harry Potter
- Anime

- Advertise on Pojo
- Our Sponsors
- Pojo Polls

 


JAELOVE's Smooth Journey

I hope this article helped challenge everyone's sense of originality and creativity. Search within your own decks, and find cards that you "just put in" but deserve some examination and scrutiny! As always, e-mail me with decks, questions, comments, and cards to review at pojojaelove@yahoo.com. We'll get back to deckbuilding in a few.

Article 8: The World Championships

            This past Sunday brought us the World Championships 2004 in sunny Anaheim. I live ten minutes away, so it was right down my alley. I picked up 4 passes, took my friend and her cousin, and went around 11:00 am.

            The first thing I noticed was the sheer ugliness of the area. I mean, boy, I don't have pictures of the whole thing, but it sure was an ugly concrete slab of building. The areas were all spread out, and the place was divided up into free play zones (where people dueled and traded), a pathetic arcade (where people could see the horror of Reshef of Destruction), duel the "experts" (where we dueled "experts" from around the world), and a magician's workshop. We could also buy exclusive movie packs at the store, and buy Yu-Gi-Oh! merchandise at another zone as well.

            Upon arrival, I went straight to the billboards showing the World Champion finalists and the presentations of different nations. Our boys from the U.S didn't fare so well, with only one making the top eight. There was a cool display showing cards from about ten different nations, all in different languages. There was another section of billboards that showed all the sets from South Korea, for some weird reason. It was slightly intriguing, considering I'm Korean myself.

            I took my friend's cousin to the dueling sections, and let him use my deck. Then, for the next 4 hours, I traded and talked. We were interrupted by a cool guy who needed movie packs to sell at his website. The exclusive movie packs section "limited" each participant to ten packs each, but we could simply move to a different booth and buy ten more. The slightly shady guy was paying ten dollars, or giving free cards, for each set of ten packs. Needless to say, I bought twenty for him.

            I found out later that one of my friends was simply cycling through the Beat the Experts portion, winning five times and gaining five free packs. By that time, I was tired, but the World Championships soon started.

 THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS FINAL DUEL:

            The final duel featured Japan versus China. I don't remember their names, but the Japanese guy's (eventual winner) first name was Masatoshi, and he was twenty. A goofy looking guy, his picture featured front teeth sticking out with a funny expression. Proof, that you don't have to be good looking/sane to master Yu-Gi-Oh! Anyways, the match was shown on the big screen, but the reflective nature of the sleeves prevented any of us from getting a good look. The announcer was also horrible, and the whole process just screamed low-tech. They had to keep their own life point scores! We didn't even get to see the life points!

            Anyways, the first duel concluded with Masatoshi bringing out the Luster Soldier, which elicited a gasp from the crowd. He removed the face down card, then attacked for game. I think the face-down card was a D.D Warrior Lady. The duel featured heavy pre-negators on both sides, and Masatoshi used scapegoat well.

            The second duel was interesting. Masatoshi had scapegoat tokens on the board, but eventually they failed him. By that time, the Chinese guy brought out Black Luster Soldier and Jinzo. Masatoshi couldn't handle it.

            The third duel featured a heavy dose of pre-negators on both sides. Eventually, both of them knew what the other had in hand, and neither had any monsters. The Chinese guy broke the stalemate by bringing out sinister serpent to attack. Masatoshi eventually used scapegoat, then both players had two facedown spell/traps. They seemed paralyzed, too scared to attack. Finally, Masatoshi heavy stormed the field, taking down a Call of the Haunted and a Torrential Tribute, I believe, from his opponent's field. Then, he creature swapped his remaining goat token for a Kycoo. Then, he brought out Magical Scientist. Then, I think he attacked with D.D Warrior Lady/Tribe, Kycoo, Scientist, and Dark Flare Knight for the win. I thought he'd jump up and scream, but he remained rather calm.

            After that, I had the chance to duel with yet another guy who played at nationals, winning the only game we played. He was solid, like all nationals qualifiers are. Then, I left, because my lady friend wasn't keen on staying past 6 p.m.

            Note to Upper Deck: Prettier settings, more hi-tech displays for the World Championships, cheaper food/beverage, good job on the rest.

            That does it for this week's article. Tune-in next week for more! As always, send comments, questions, and even your own experiences at the WC2004 to pojojaelove@yahoo.com!

A BAD System Score of the Week
LOD Ultra Rare: Creature Swap
Used By: World Champion 2004

Advantage F/H: If used properly, Creature Swap will hopefully give them a searcher (Witch, Sangan), a different searcher (Giant Germ, Pyramid Turtle, Shining Angel, Mystic Tomato), a sinister serpent, a Yata-Garasu, or a scapegoat token. In almost all instances, you're either losing no monster, getting it back the next turn, or getting a searcher to replace it! Thus, you're basically upgrading your monster for the cost of one card. You'll also do 1000+ life point damage with the card. 8/10

Best Draw for the Situation: This is a good card to have when losing. Also, you can switch a face up monster like sinister serpent, picking up their monster then attacking it for a lot of damage. This card works well in all phases of play, and only truly fails when you have no monster to afford (a not too rare situation). 7.5/10

Attributes/Effect: There is no other card in the game that offers permanent control without a cost (the others, snatch steal and falling down, have prohibitive life point costs). Of course, it wastes a card from your hand, but nothing does what Creature Swap can do. This is a highly effective card in the right deck. 8.5/10

Dependability: This is the weak point of Creature Swap. To use it properly, you'll need a decent monster of your own to "waste". You'll also need preferably one good monster of theirs on the field (otherwise, they'd just give you the inferior one). You'll also need a clear path to attack. Creature Swap doesn't work if the situations don't line up perfectly. It's not as dependable as a change of heart or snatch steal, lowering it to 6/10.

A BAD Score: 30/40=               75/100

 

 

 

 

 Copyright 2002 - Pojo.com 

This site is not associated with KAZUKI TAKAHASHI.  Yu-Gi-Oh is a registered trademarks of KAZUKI TAKAHASHI.
This is NOT an official site.  This is a fan site.