Originality v. Playability
By SiphonX
February 14, 2005

 

Yu-Gi-Oh! has ever been a segregated community, consisting solely of those who advocate originality and those who advocate competitiveness.  On one side, the die-hard creative fanatics exist, playing only for the sake of the game and creating unique decks that work but are not exactly at the top of the tier.  On the other side of the meter stand those that concentrate solely on the purpose of winning the tournament, without any regards to how original or unoriginal their decks may be.  These two parties are the singular largest mental division between duelists: the original, and the unoriginal.

 

What is originality?  For if originality is best defined by the dictionary, than originality would not exist.  As a fundamental rule in psychology and in the rest of society, every thought, every action, every impulse must have come from something else.  An idea may have been born with a person, but he or she did not create it by any means; another idea must have spawned it.  It is therefore improper to call any deck (or anything else for that matter) original; they would be better defined as “different.”  In essence, that is all that everyone’s decks deviate from: indifference and difference.  And in many cases, different can be superior.

 

Once an amazing theme makes its way into the clutches of the public, there is no stopping the viral epidemic.  Indeed, netdecking poses a rather nasty problem for many of the more creative of duelists that are simply seeking advice.  Postings of tournament deck results are exponentially worse, as thousands attempt to copy the winners’ creations.  This was fully exemplified during the summer of 2003, when Ng Yu Leung stunned over half a million duelists by securing a World Championship victory using a Hand Control hybrid.  Over the coming weeks (and months), thousands of children flocked to stores and game shops across the world attempting to recreate his juggernaut of a deck.  After that fateful summer day, the metagame saw rise to a legion of winning replicas that in turn set in stone what exactly a “cookie-cutter” was.

 

Competition spawns many undesired effects, and one of the most vicious of them all is indifference.  Even nature acts as a catalyst for recombination and differentiation.  Chaos users argue that there are indeed different shades of Chaos, as there are different branches on a tree.  However, the truth of the matter is that their entire motive for running the deck that they run lies in the very basis of the game: competition.  Most often, the most used deck is the deck that mostly achieves the most victories.  Six out of eight of the finalists from the first Shonen Jump Championship used the same breed of deck.  Twenty-one out of twenty-five almost identical players existed at the World Championship.  Obviously, this deck was the one to run if you really wanted to win, but many took a very different path.

 

Many duelists choose the path of creativity, for they feel that the conformist theory seems a bit immoral.  Maybe their decks aren’t as powerful or as competitive as those that run the mainstream, but they sure are fun to play.  Sometimes, the best deck to run isn’t the one that will win, but the one that will turn heads.  Furthermore, originality can be advantageous in the metagame.  Duelists are forced to make explicit selections for sidedeck material, and if they have nothing that they can use to combat your deck, you may be able to scrape a win.  That’s not to say that it isn’t possible to create an original yet competitive deck, but being able to succeed with an original deck is indeed the equivalent of putting a man on the moon. 

 

Though each may have their strengths and weaknesses, often times the moderates find favor in the eyes of the most people.  They somehow manage to create an amazingly playable deck, while taking into consideration how different their deck is from the rest of the masses’ decks.  By being able to incorporate original themes in an unoriginal deck, and vice-versa, the moderates can attract attention and stun their opponents.  However, moderates are indeed a minute portion of the metagame’s duelists, and many times, do not receive much recognition or glory.

 

This internal struggle is the singular largest difference in playing mentalities.  While there may be some that advocate both ideas, the mass identify with a singular idea.  Are you competitive or are you original?  You have choice, make your time.

 

Any questions, comments, or hate mail can be rerouted to siphon_x@yahoo.com.  Until next time, Big Brother is watching…

 

~SiphonX~