Pook's Place

Ban the Man!
By Pook

8.17.04  Greetings all. Well, this past weekend kicked off the 2004 Summer Olympic games, an event that only comes every four years. Additionally, there is another event that happens only one every four years, and that is the American presidential election. Sure, I’m not eligible to run until I’m at least 35, but I have been following the campaign trail for both major party candidates. One thing I’ve noticed is that the candidates have to pick a side for most of the big issues. Of course, my Yu-Gi-Oh obsessed mind immediate went towards an issue that is splitting the Dueling nation (yeah, there is no Dueling nation…yet…), and that is the issue of the ban list.

Ever since I started writing this column a few months back, people have been emailing me, wondering about my stance on the ban list. I decided that rather than having to email back each and every single person, I will just come right out and say where I stand on the issue. Hopefully, I won’t lose your vote based on my opinion.

Personally, I am for the ban list. At first, I was hesitant about accepting these changes, but once I started to look over the situation, I realized that it is a good way to go. Here’s why. As many of you know, I am a major proponent of original deck designs (see “You Play With Fire, You’re Gonna Get Burned”). Every time I tried to design a new deck, there were certain staples that I constantly put into my decks (Harpie’s, Raigeki, etc. – you know the story). I always felt weighed down by so many of the staples.

And that’s where my support of the ban list was born – I was taking up so much space in my deck, that my custom designed decks were far to big for normal play – around 50 cards or so, a big faux pa. So, I ditched them. Flat out tried to play without them against decks that did have them. Big, big mistake. I had no choice. Back they went, and I was forced to ditch certain cards in order to make it a playable deck. Then, Konami answered my prayers.

Ah, the ban list. My saving grace. Sure, it was only in Japan, but I liked the idea. Then, the shop I played at back in New Jersey decided that since they were an unofficial tournament, they were going to impose the ban…2 weeks after I moved. Yeah, big let down. But the fact was that there was a demand for ban-list tournaments. So, I decided to play two decks – my Water deck, with the ban cards, and my Fire/Burn deck, ban-list compliant. At the World Championships this year, I played them both. You know what happened? My ban-list compliant deck held it’s own. Why? Because most of the hardcore gamers, even ones who run CED and other “bane-of-my-existence” decks, are starting to phase them out. I couldn’t be happier.

Yes, I support the ban, but only because Konami went through with it in a very smart manner – letting stores decide whether to allow them or ban them. Bravo, Konami (honestly, no joke or sarcasm here, they finally did something really right). The fact that they are letting the American stores be democratic is pure brilliance. If they had said that stores had to be ban-list compliant and left no room for compromise, I think that I wouldn’t be so supportive of it. This way, people who really want to learn and grow and try some new and innovative ways of dueling have that freedom, or those who feel more comfortable with their current dueling style can stick with it. For me, I think I’m going to try to stick with a ban-compliant store, because decks that in the past stood no chance (i.e. FINAL decks, theme decks) will finally get some play, and it will be up to the smart duelist to figure out how to achieve victory.

There you have it – my stance on the situation. Sure, up against major political issues, this seems trivial, but to you, my fellow duelists, this is the major issue, and I hope you will vote for me in November to be King of Duelist Kingdom, or Student Body President of Domino High School, or Mayor of Battle City, or whatever authoritative figure of a Yu-Gi-Oh location you please.

By the way, on a side note, I was informed that a certain other Yu-Gi-Oh magazine (not Pojo) has posted an article about a live-action movie, very similar to mine. It’s good to see that other people in the industry read and like my column, so much so that they printed their own version of it. However, it would have been nice to have been acknowledged by them. No, I’m not claiming I INVENTED a live-action movie, but come on, people, my first article about it was posted months ago. So to the kind people at the other magazine, thanks for reading. Happy dueling! ^_^


**NOTE: Please respect my opinion, because I completely respect yours. If you feel differently about this, or any other idea, please don’t send me hate mail – I would never do that to you. If you’d like to share your opinion with me, that’s totally cool, you know me, I’m really laid back about things. But no mudslinging – this isn’t a real election!**