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For Rent

Pojo.com's Yu-Gi-Oh! Interviews
A “Nutty” Interview With Ricky
By Ally
5.07.07

 

 

First I like to thank Pojo for putting this interview up for me.

 

Pojo Screen Name: http://www.pojo.biz/board/member.php?u=12491

 

Ally: First of all, I like to thank you Ricky for taking a few minutes of your time to do this interview with me. For my first question, can you please tell the Pojo readers a little bit about yourself?

 

Ricky: I'm Ricky, known online as Nut. I am 16 years old, and I've been playing Yu-Gi-Oh! since traditional. I didn't start playing competitively until the first banned list.

 

Ally: I see. Since you played competitively when the first banned list came out did you top eight your first regional then?

 

Ricky: Yeah actually the first event outside of a local I ever went to was a regional in Alabama, where I was able to earn an invite in Top 4 after going 7-0 in swiss, winning the Top 8 match.

 

Ally: What deck were you playing at that time and 7-0 is really good for a first top eight, because that doesn't happen too often.

 

Ricky: Well, the night before I was going to run this really cool teched out deck with no Soldier, but my team mate wanted to run my D.D. Assailant and he was Asian; so I figured he had a better shot anyway, so I just ran chaos warrior.

 

Ally: That’s cool! You mentioned your team mate, so I see you’re on a team. Can you tell the viewers a little about the team?

 

Ricky: Yeah I'm on Team GG. We've been a team for....a really long time. About as long as Comic Odyssey, much longer than Nexus/Rampge/Hungerforce, and the other entire notable teams these days. We take pride in not being like a team just formed 3 months ago :].

 

Ricky: Shout outs to my team mates, I love you.

 

Ally: Now that we covered your team, have ya'll had any team battles and if so with who?

 

Ricky: No notable team battles. We've technically have participated in one, which we won relatively easily, but I don't count it since it was really not a big deal. We don't travel nearly as much as we would like to, so no team battles yet but we're hoping to team battle Hpnotiq at Nationals, because we're friends with most of those guys.

 

Ally: Good luck with your team battle, and I hope your team wins. Anyways, recently you topped 16 Shonen Jump Houston. How was that like?

 

Ricky: It was nice. I felt good for representing my team and stuff, and it was kinda overdue since I got tired of doing so bad at jumps (wouldn't believe my luck..). But on the other hand, I know my team mate Duy Bui (Who made my SJC Houston Top 16 deck BTW) was really looking forward to doing well at the jump but got really unlucky that day, but I know that he'll get his soon enough.

 

Ally: Hopefully you both will top 8 a Shonen Jump What deck were you running at the jump?

 

Ricky: I was running a Blackburn deck. Blackburn is a deck that was originally created by Dale Bellido from Superfriendz. Dale ran his WAYYY back I think all the way in traditional or the first couple of banned list. It included Black Luster Soldier and sometimes Strike Ninja(s). Duy remade the deck for this format and it wrecked on 99% of the decks at SJC Houston 07.

 

Ally: Outside of the SJ Houston, how consistent was it at other regionals, or was it just built say like the night before so to speak?

 

Ricky: It wasn't built the night before the jump, Duy was testing it for weeks before the jump (while I did absolutely nothing rofl), but we didn't get to test it at a Regional or anything like that because we were busy every weekend preceding the jump. He strictly tested it online on YVD

 

Ally: That’s cool! Ok on a different topic now. What are your views on the current banned list?

 

Ricky: Umm it’s a slower paced format compared to the last few we've had, and I like that a lot. I definitely think that Snatch Steal, Ring of Destruction, and Confiscation should be banned though. Confiscation is such a broken card; give a pro a Confiscation opening hand, and he’s winning that game 99% of the time. It’s too good; I run it in almost all my decks. Ring of Destruction is a really lame card for obvious reasons, and Snatch Steal does virtually the same thing.

 

Ally: I couldn't agree with you more there. What’s more annoying to you, winning with a snatch steal or winning with a Ring of Destruction?

 

Ricky: Definitely Ring of Destructions. With Snatch Steal you at least know you have a lot of possible counters like Book of Moon, Mystical Space Typhoon, Enemy Controller if they have a face up Monster, Dust Tornado etc. with ring, you only really have Book of Moon once you activate it.

 

Ally: This is true and not many people will main/side other cards that go against Ring 'cause it's too risky like Barrel Behind The Door, but there’s always the most popular trap negators like Jinzo and Royal Decree. Hmmm what would you like to see come off the banned list?

 

Ricky: I feel bad for saying this because its so cliché, but yes a format where Scapegoat is back at three per deck would be really interesting. Goat format was the coolest.

 

Ally: Goat format was cool, but really annoying @_@. Do you have any set goals this year pertaining to YGO?

 

Ricky: Goals for Yu-Gi-Oh!? Uh not really, I guess as usual I look forward to traveling with my friends and having a lot of fun. If I didn't love hanging out with my Yu-Gi-Oh! friends so much I probably wouldn't be playing right now. I guess it'd be nice to Top 16 another Jump, we'll see how it pans out.

 

Ally: Again, hopefully you do more then top 16 like top 8 and win ^_^. Your also a feature writer for Pojo as well (well for me more like a feature interviewer) what do you usually write about?

 

Ricky: Now a days I just write the Card of the Days and articles about general Yu-Gi-Oh! strategy.

 

Ally: I see. Well back to little basics, what made you want to play Yu-Gi-Oh!?

 

Ricky: My cousin. Back when the starter decks came out he learned how to play with our friend (who still plays, but he’s not as good as us ;P)  and they lent me one of their decks to play -- I was hooked pretty much. I stopped enjoying the game after Goat Format though.

 

Ally: Yeah, a lot of people stopped enjoying the game :<. Well, I have a few more questions left for you then you can add whatever closing statement you want. Since you win a lot of regionals and topped 16 a SJ do you feel like you can do more in Yu-Gi-Oh! after all those accomplishments?

 

Ricky: Oh absolutely. Well, its certainly POSSIBLE. My credentials are nothing compared to T's, Wilson's, Peddle's, Jae's etc. Am I CAPABLE of doing better? Winning Jumps / Nationals and being a consistent player in the game like the above players? Definitely, but I honestly don't have the drive to do so.

 

Ricky: In order to get better at the game and excel at the game you have to have that desire.

 

Ricky: All I really wanna do is having fun.

 

Ally: That’s good that you’re having fun and not be taken too seriously all the time. The game is about having fun and doing your best but winning is nice too lol. What is some advice you can give to all the new players out there that read this?

 

Ricky: Above all else just have fun. I know this sounds like something your mom would say, but its really the truth. If you aren't having fun you're wasting your time. Nobody should take Yu-Gi-Oh! that serious to the point where they're just playing to win, because unless you're cheating, there’s no way to consistently win in a game as luck based as Yu-Gi-Oh!.

 

Ally: Cheating is bad. Don't do it to the people that read this ;). Speaking of cheating, when you were playing a game did you ever have that suspicion that your opponent was cheating you?

 

Ricky: Absolutely. Both of my matches that I lost at SJC Austin were realllllly shady. Round One I almost got cheated with Life Points, since I had a calculator and my opponent had paper. However, the head judge Simon Key sided with me, but my opponent still got no penalty for trying to cheat. Later on the judges let my opponent cheat me involving the activation of a card after he chose not to respond. Theres a local player here in Louisiana, hes not very good and I've beat him every time I've ever played him (Once at SJCs, twice at Regionals) but he is a known cheater around here and has almost been banned from UDE like twice I think.

 

Ally: Wow, hopefully some kind of punishment will be handed out if he gets caught again. That stinks though you got cheated out of that duel. Well I have two more questions for you; what is your favorite card and why?

 

Ricky: My favorite card is Return from the Different Dimension. It was my favorite card before it was popular. Back in Goat Format I ran a deck that was made by me with help from Wilson Luc that ran Dark Magician of Chaos, Black Luster Soldier, and Return. It was like...my favorite deck and Return was such a cool card for the time -- nobody ran it basically.

 

Ally: Yeah back then RFTDD saw no play whatsoever. Well as for my last question do you have any role models that look up to you in the game? I know your team does, but who else?

 

Ricky: Wilson Luc has helped me so much. Back in early-mid Goat Format we met at SJC Houston 05 and started talking online ALOT. I played him on YVD almost every day for a pretty long time and without him I wouldn't be half as good of a player as I am today. He is a very kind person and he doesn't play Yu-Gi-Oh! anymore, which is a shame because he was easily one of the best and most influential players to EVER play this game.

 

Ally: That’s cool ^^. Well our interview is over Ricky :<. Can you please give the Pojo readers a closing statement?

 

Ricky: Well I guess thanks for reading J. My team mate Ray is over at my house and is demanding I give him a shout out, so I guess shutouts to Ray as well as my other team mates, WangPirate, friends from the forums and all that stuff. Finally thanks to Ally for taking all of this time to interview me.

 

 


 


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